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HISTORICAL SKETCH 



OF THE 



CHEMUNG VALLEY, Etc. 



BY 



T. APOLEON CHENEY, 




18 33 XX 



' WATKINS, N. Y 

1 8 G 8 . 






WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. Esq. 



THE EMINENT AND ILLrSTRIOUS POET OF THE NINETEENTH CENTTTtY. 



THIS 'sketch," 



AS SOME TOKEN OF PROFOUND AND SINCERE HEGARD, 



IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIHED, BY 



The Authok. 



Entered accordius to Act of Congress, in the year 18G8, by 

T. Apoleon Chkney, 

In the Clerk"=:< Otiice of the District Conrt of the Northern District of New Yorlc. 



1 ^/r^-^f/w 



HISTOEICAL SKETCH 



OF THE 



Clieimaiig A^alley, etc. 



BY T. APOLEON CHENEY. 



•'The Regular Meeting of the Buffalo His- 
torical Society was held at its rooms, March 
12th. 

The minutes of the last meeting were read 
and approved. 

Ttie report of the Treasurer shows a Valance 
in the Treasury, February 28th, of $160-5,53. 

The President, (Hon. Milliard Fillmore.) 
announced the reception of a long and exhaust- 
ive paper from the pen of Dr. T. Apoleon Cue 
KEY, of Havana, Schuyler County, beinjj a min- 
ute History of that region, includinga detailed 
account of the Expedition of General Sullivan 
against tlie Indians. Anson G. Chester was 
invited to read the paper at a special meeting 
of tiie Society to be held at its rooms on Fri- 
day next." 

Extract from the Records of the Buffalo His- 
torical Society: — "A special meeting of the 
Society was held at their rooms on tlie 15th, 
inst., for the purpose of hearing read a paper 
prepared hy T. Apolkon Cheney, LL. D., of 
Schuyler County, New York, giving an ac- 
count of the early History of that region, and 
of Sullivan's Expedition against the Indians. 

The Paper was read by Anson G. Chester, 
Esq., wiiereupon, on motion of G. W. Bab- 
cock, Esq., it was 

B,esolved, that the thnnks of the Society be 
presented toT. Apoleon Cheney. LL. D. for his 
elaborate and instructive Paper just read, and 
that the Paper be referred to the Committee 
on publication." 



CHAPTER I. 

IntTodudory remarks : — Occupation of our country 
hy the Aboriginal tribes— Early Discoveries and 
Expeditions made by the French and English 
in the region o/ Western New York, etc. 
The Chemung Valley, and adjacent region 
has already been assigned a prominent jH-ice 
in the domain of History, of Romance, "ul ot 
Song. It would indeed appear vain and futilo 
to attempt to make collection of any unrecor- 
ded facts, or to narrate any of the thril ing 
Stories which the pioneer still relates of the 
olden time, that can add to the interest which 
already attaches to th's famed and almost clas- 
sic ground. But, the strangely beautiful le- 
gends, the romantic myths, connected with 
the jjcriod of the Revolution, which various 
historical, as weU as other liteiary works, had 
rec< rded of this beautiful and picturesque val- 
ley, has served to awaken and stimulate further 
researches in regard to its history. 

The writer of this sketch had, at first, in- 
dulged the hope to be ahle to collect material 
which would form reliable basis for a some- 
what full and complete history of the regioa 
which had been the theatre where one of the 
strangest and most interesting dramas of past 
time had been enacted, but the haze which in 
long intervening years had gathered around 
its marvelous scenes, renders any completa 
narative of its important and changing events, 
or of the actors who particip ded in them, now 
impossible. It may also be mentioned, that 



HIST'iRICAT- SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG VAIJ,EY, ETC. 



whilst the writer wms pursuing, in the early 
part of the summer of '65, extendfd inquiries 
and investis^iitions respecting the early history 
of the section which includes the heautiful in- 
land likes of ourState, illness h;id interposed to 
prevent furtiier research (jrattention to the sub- 
ject ; and now, after the lapse of many months, 
the choice only seems to remain to him, 
either to give a rough and desultory sketcli oi 
the events of which he has already acquiied 
information, some disconnected outline »;t in- 
cidents in the history of this region, or to per- 
mit them to slumber in oblivion. It will be 
my only object lo iiive a simple and truthful 
relation of facts. For all imoerfectionsof style, 
which otherwise might challenge criticism, I 
must ask generous allowance and indulgence. 
This sketch is, in fact, only a luiml)!e contri- 
bution toward the history of the valley Iving 
between the Chemung river and tlie Seneca 
Lake, also, giving a pirii il record of the thrill- 
in<r legends of the adjoining country whicli 
are insepirably blended with the early history 
of the valley. 

The men of the Revolution have passed 
away. The Pioneers of our country are no 
more. The noble endurance which these men 
•who had entered and subdued tlie wilderness 
displayed, teaching the virgin soil to bud and 
bloom with the beauty of a new Eilen, is 
worthy of elogitim only surpassed by that paid 
to the patriots and heroes who had achieved 
our National independence. They all repose 
beneath the green and fragrant turf— ali.ie 
slumbering in their honored graves. 

Over this regi(m, within the historic perod 
four great empires have claimed the sover- 
eignty—four great powers that have exacted 
submission to their imperial sway. Scarcely 
a century has passed by since the earliest ot 
these dominant powers, the proud Iroquois con- 
federacy, held the m istery over'.the broad forest 
lands which divided the waters of the conti- 
nent ;— here the Conhocton, the Canesteo, and 
other streams, rushing along the fertile val- 
leys until joining the noble Susquehanna, they. 
at last, mmgle with the Ocean;— there, the wa- 
ters which formed the beautiful lakes, seeking 
an outlet through the m igniticent Ontario'' 
and majestic St. Liwrence, until they too. 
reached the great Atlantic; while upon its 
western borders, the rivers, fed by springs 
among the hills of Steul>en. muted their cur- 
rents to give tribute to the Monarch of Floods 
whose waters giviutr verdure to .all the broad 
lands of the imperial West, welcomed in em- 
brace at last the queenly seas of the tropics. 

I needs must pause to glance one moment 
at this remarkable power, this great Empire 
of the past. This unriv.illed Indian confede- 
ration, which had luien acquiring strentcth 
and power, and greatness, for three himdred 
years previous to the culmination of its gran- 
deur at the period of the llevolution, was pre- 
ceded by an empire of yet older date, which 



in unknown time held the continent in its im- 
perial grasp. 'J'hc monuments reared by this 
lost empire, in scmie far and unknown period 
of time, which still perpetuate some 'mdi.s- 
tinct record of its former grea ness, can only 
be traced in the mounds, and military earth- 
works, which have been found existing 
throughout our country, inchnling the region 
occupied by the Iroquois. In relation to this 
subject, however. I cannot do l.'ctter than in- 
troduce extracts from letters which I had the 
honor to receive from several eminent schi>l- 
ars, the most illu.-trious scientific men of our 
land, whose v.ilualileopiinon will posstrssmuch 
greater interest than views which only a stu- 
dent in tills department of investig ition, like 
mvself, could advance. The late Be\j.\min 
SiLLiMAN. LL. D.. Einerites Professor in hon- 
ored Y le, and who durimr the last half cen- 
tury had occupied the most distinguished, the 
most illustrious position among the scientific 
men not only of America, i)ut of the world, 
thus, referring to the mounds, writes : 

'T believe they were not erected by the an- 
cestors of our Aborisinees. hut by a people 
considerably advanced in civilization and arts, 
like the Mexicans. " *■' - I siw on Sals- 
hury's plain in England, numerous mounds be- 
longing no doubt to the same state of society 
with those in the west of America. I counted 
more than seventy in one view — the largest, 
called King Silberry's Mound, was 180 feet 
high, and its base covered nearly an acre of 
ground. It is descril>ed in my travels in Eng- 
land in 1805 6. •" « « You are aware that 
in the middle and north of Europe there are 
on the corrtinent many sepidcral mounds. — 
They anpear to he characteiistic of a particu- 
lar era in social advancement." Another dis- 
tinguished scholar, who also had ranked among 
the first Historians in our country, Jakkd 
Sparks, LL. D.. in a letter dated Febu iiy 26, 
1862. gives expression of his views : '-These 
monuments are not more curious as speci- 
mens of antiquity, thm as furnishing a clue to 
the history of the race of men by whom they 
were formed, * * ^ It is a striking fact, 
that scarcely any mounds or other anticpii- 
ties of the kind, liave lieen found lietween the 
Alleginy mountains and the Atlantic ocean, 
while they are so numerous in the region of 
the West. It would seem to imply different 
races who had litUe intercourse with each 
other." And in regard to the history and an- 
tiquities of the region occupied hy the Iro- 
vuois H. R. Sriiooi.cnAFT, LL. D., whose long 
continued ArchiBlogical and Etlinoloirical in- 
vestitrations were embodied in various able 
and elaborate publicatitms. beside the great 
national work, issued in six quarto volumes, 
'•Tli^tory, Condition and Prospects of the In- 
dian Tribes of the U. S." in a communication 
to the writer of this article says: "There is 
nothinc: in our history more interestinir than 
our Indian antiquities, and we are just begin- 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMDNG VALLEY, ETC. 



iiingto^t^t some reliable light upon the sub- 
ject. We have made extravagant speculations 
upon the suliji'ct ; but, it requires to be stucl- 
ie(l from another and dfiser point of view. — 
Tlie ancient tribes of Indi;ins were more po; - 
nlous, anil had a higher degree of arts tlian 
our modern tiibes. Europe only first began 
really to make arqn;untance with them in 
1(508. The French had jiroceeded no farther 
than lake C'hamplain when they enconntered 
the Iroquois in 1G09. The same year the 
Dutch landed in Alliany, and they were fol- 
lowed by the English after a lapse of fifty-five 
years." Again, the distinguished Histori.m 
of the Indian race, in a letter of August 3d, 
I8G0, but a short time previous to his decease, 
writes ; "Yonr memoir on Indian antiquities 
of Western New York was received; it enti- 
tles yon to the thanks of all who make re- 
searches into our aboriginal history. Tiie 
Vesperic Trilies whosettled in the present area 
of the United States were in the'w phi/siche, and 
in their mental organization, manners and 
arts, in my opinion, of owe race, and the an- 
tiquities they have lelt to us are ofcorresjjond- 
ing unity, and those peisons whoiniHgine that 
the antiquities of the Mississippi Valley differ 
essentially from those of Eastei n America must 
furnish stronger proofs than those hitherto ad- 
duced. * ■"' * ''' 1'he Iroquois came from 
the South up the Ohio Valley, an 1 after fol- 
lowing down the St. Liwience to near the 
naouth, with their capital at Hochelaga, plant- 
ed themselves in Western New York, in the 
cealer of the Algonquin nations. Here they 
were at the sources of the great rivers of the 
Ofuntrv, and soon made their presence felt. - 
But I have not leisuie to pursue this interest- 
ing theme. ••- •" * 

It will be noticed that the views entertained 
by the distinguished scientists which I have 
named, in respect to the race or races of men 
that had once occupied our country, do not 
fully correspond; they are no less valuable as 
furnishing aid to our enquiiies. The learneil 
and distinguished Ethnologist, Dr. S. G. iMor- 
ton, who had made extensive and profound 
investigatio 1 ot this subject — in the elal>orate 
examination of the Physiological traits and 
precise measurement of the volume of crania 
obtained from every section of the continent, 
every Indian nation— arrived at the opinion, 
expressed in his great work, "Crania Ameri- 
cana," that the various nations, or tribes, in- 
habiting the continent were compo.'jed of but 
one rat>e of men. A scientific examination of 
craniological characteristics of ostelogical re- 
mains that may be exhumed hereafter from 
the unexplored mounds in our country, may 
however yet furnish evidence to ovei throw the 
physical indicia referred to in support of tlie 
unity of races that has held sway upon the 
Western Kemisphere. 

Intrusive elements of European civilization 
and art huve occasionaly been duscovcred within 



the country occupied by the Inoqnois which 
unquestionably date prior to the expeditions 
of the early French Missions. Among these 
traces of early European occupation, was the 
singular relic that had been found in the On- 
ondaga country, a boulder upon which was in- 
scribed— "Leo VI. 1520" — which, it will be seen 
dates some eightyears previous to De Sofa's dis- 
covery of the Floridas. The Scandaviniaa 
Siiges relate that about A. D. 1000, the North- 
men coasted along the Eastern shores of Ameri- 
ca, till they reached a country which they 
designated— Vineland; this is included in the 
"Tiansactions of the Royal Soc. of Northern 
Antiquaries." The writer of this sketch had 
opportunity to examine, both during the pro- 
gress of the suivey of Ancient monuments of 
Western New York, and since its termination, 
several relics which could only be referred to 
very early European occupation or expeditions; 
the late Hon. Edward Everett, who had ably 
reviewed the "Antiquaies Americanae," in a let- 
ter written soon alter they had come to my 
notice, remarked, that he "had never suppos- 
ed that the Northmen were thought to have 
penetrated to Western New York," and that 
the relic in question "indicites a more recent 
date." The Literature of Europe, both in- 
cluding and subsequent to its clasic era, in the 
mythes, and the poetical, as well as historical 
uaratives it contains, is richly suggestive of 
some vague knowledge of a continent lying in 
the bosom of the western ocean, well known 
to the ancient Phenicians. Cathagenians. and 
Tryrians— and visited in 1147. 1170, in 1380, 
by various navigators- the lost Atlantis, of 
which Hist(uy first acquired reliable knowl- 
edge at the time of its discovery by Columbus, 
who in reaching the Ultima TInile, realized the 
prediction contained in the "Media" of Seneca. 
But the great Power that once ruled the 
country, and had reared the fast decaying 
monuments still disclosed throughout our 
wide land, has passed away. Such an event 
certainly affords one of the strangest, one of 
the grandest problems in human history; and 
gives sco[ie for the most profound philosophi- 
cal research. Histories are otten only records 
of battles and campaigns, of the movements 
of kings— Cajsars, that 

"Get the start of this majestic world, 
And bear the palm alone" — 

but here we have the reverse, there is not an 
annal, not a single written record, whicti trac- 
es the story, for future times, of this great 
Empire of the past. Only the vast and 
crumbling monuments of the west point to 
its remote antiquity— only the figures, the dei- 
ties, chiselled in the stone which have been 
left us, with their cold moveless lips, are elo- 
quent with the mythes, the traditions of it» 
glory. 

The Iroquois, originally composed of fiv« 
nations, and afterward by the ascession in 



HISTORICAI.- SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG VALLEY, ETC. 



1612 of the Tuscaroes, of six nations, present- 
«d an anolomalous feature in the bistoay of 
the Indian race; their confederation bears com- 
parison, in some respects, to the Am phry tonic 
league described in the clasics; while they 
have been styled the "Romans of the West." 
The name Aquinosbioni, or Long-bouse, by 
whicb the confederacy was designated, also 
represents its policy or national character.— 
The Iroquois also styled themselves, theOngni- 
Honni; as the Empire State, the successors to 
the departed power have adopted the motto of 
eimilar import— "Excelsior." The traditions 
of this people indicates their origin and suc- 
cess to Taronyawagan- — the Divinity who 
protected this nation— and who wasalso known 
as Hiawatha. Around their central council -fire, 
at Onondaga, were shown the noblest quali- 
ties of the Hunter Race;— here was exhibited 
a sagacious national policy, military ardor, 
and eloquence in debate, which has been in- 
deed unrivaled iu Indian History The writer 
of Ibis sketch has had somewhat ample op- 
portunity to become acquainted with the In- 
dian character, derived from personal obser- 
Tation; the Iroquois possessed the manlier 
▼irtues of the Hunter-state of society--a 
jnagnimity of thought and action, love of lib- 
erty, heroism in danger, and a stoicism in suf- 
fering — and sometimes a simplicity, a poetic 
grandeur and sublimity in expression of tbo't 
and sentiment, which could only be lorn amid 
Lis native forests. Nevertheles.s, from the 
mental leservations which the Indian exhib- 
its, as has been observed in an able work, 
written by a distinguished statesman of our 
country, the Hon. Lewis Cass, in respect to 
♦'the moral character and feelings of the In- 
dians, of their mental discipline, * '■' and 
of all that is most valuable to man, in bis 
tory of men, we are about as ignorant as when 
Jacques Cartier first ascended the St. Law- 
rence." 

The Iroquois had attracted the early atten 
tion of men in command of European Expe- 
ditions to this country. In 1534, Cartier, 
under the authority of the King of France, 
had penetrated the region occupied by the 
Iroquois; and on his return to France publish- 
ed a glowing account of the Expedition. In 
1535, he conducted another expedition to the 
Iroquois country. Toward the close of the 
geventeenth century, Father Henepin had 
made a tour through the country held by the 
Iroquois, and in his narative, published soon 
after termination of the Expedition, in France, 
and again in first Volume of "Trans, of Am. 
Antiquarian Soc," in 1820, he thus speaks of 
the power of the Iroquois: "They would never 
cease from disturbing the repose of the Euro- 
peans, were it not for fear of their fire-arms. 
For they entertain no commerce with them 
uuless it be fire-arms, which they buy on pur- 
pose to war against Iheir neighbors; and by 
Aftaos of irhick thej have extended their 



bloody conquests five or six hundred leagues 
beyond their own precints, exterminating 
whatever nation they hate." 

A work written in Latin and published at 
Paris in l('i64, states that a French colony was 
established in the country of the Iroquois 
about the year 1(355. Charlevoix, in his "His- 
tory of New France," also mentions that mis- 
sionaries were sent to Onondaga in 1654. The 
Iroquois held the balance of power in Ameri- 
ca. In 1C08, Champlain had laid the founda- 
tion for the city of Quebec. A hundred and 
fifty-two years passed away while the conflict 
was being waged by the French and English 
monarchs for the supremancy of the Ameri- 
can continent. This contest is fully traced in 
the volumes of the "Colonial History of New 
York." In 1759, Niagara yielded to the as- 
sault of the British army ; and upon the 
heights of Abraham, opposite Quebec, Wolfe 
and Montcalm each were struggling to gain 
the victory which should decide the long bat- 
tle for the domination of the continent — and 
with his dying halid the English General 
snatched the 13ourbon-lillies from the flag 
that henceforth should wave over the Cana- 
das. The proud French capitol of the New 
World, Quebec, had capitulated upon the 18th 
day ot September, 1759; and with its surren- 
der, the georgeous dream of founding a co- 
losal Empire, New France, upon the VVestern 
continent, vanished forever. 

It should have been mentioned in refering 
to the French claim of the territory of the 
Iroquois, as belonging to New France, that 
this remarkable confederation of warriors had 
successfully resisted the objects sought to be 
attained by the expedition of De la Bare, and 
of De Nonville. At subsequent time. Count 
Frontenac, an able Governor of Canada, con- 
ducted his expedition against the Iroquois. — 
Upon the 16th of June 1696, this expedition 
left Quebec, and upon the 4th of August, the 
army arrived at the principal town of the On- 
ondagas, and formed in array of battle, but 
the Indians who could have brought six or 
seven hundred warriors to defense of their Fort, 
nevertheless burned this entrenchment, to- 
gether with their wigwams, &c., and precipi- 
tately fied. The Indian cornfields, and other 
means of subsistance, were destroyed by orders 
of Count Frontenac. A detachment under 
command of M. de Vandreville, to destroy the 
Oneida town, baving successfully accomplish- 
ed their mission, returned upon the 9th of 
August to the main army. This expedition 
reached Montreal upon 20th August in its 
return from the Iroquois campaign, and upon 
the 12th of September arrived at Quebec. — 
This expedition under command of Count 
Frontenac, has furnished, in the romantic in- 
cidents connected with it, a theme which has 
inspired the muse of one of the most gifted 
poets of our country, Alfred B. Street — hia 
genius has ^rrought out this subject la th« 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUXG VALI.F.T, ETC. 



beautiful and elaborate Poem " Frontenac ." 
But, I shall have occasion again to reler more 
fully to this expedition, in the especial rela- 
tion it sustains in the history of tiie Senecas, 
and in connection with tlie widely famed 
Queen of this nation at tlie period of the llev- 
olution, and to the Poem illustrating tins in 
teresth g episode of Indian story, in the sub- 
sequent pages of this sketch. 

It was only a year before the fall of the 
French Capital, Qaubec, that Capt. Pouchet, 
who had commanded the engineers at the suc- 
cessful assault upon Oswego, in 1756, and 
was afterward engaged in the construction of 
Fort Niagara, while stationed at that very re- 
nowned fortification in 1758, compiled the 
Map entitled — "Carte dcs Frontiers, et Anqloisxs 
■deu-ile Canada depuis Montreal Jusques on t'urtdu 
Qiiense ; it is a rough Jlap. drawn from infor- 
mation, as stated in his dispatch accompany- 
ing the Map of 14th April, 1758. obtained at 
Niagara, (colonial Documents, 624th page, 
vol.X.) This Map delineates the retcion of 
country particularly embraced in these inves- 
tigations; it rejiresents theriver St Lawrence, 
and Lake Ontario— the Seneca Lake is here 
laid down by name of Kanantage, the Cayuga 
Lake asKendais. An Indian town or Castle, 
Ocyendahit, is marked on Map lying between 
the two lakes above referred to ; an Indian 
trail is traced upon the Map as passing from 
Fort Niagara by Kaensataque, (Canantlaguia,) 
through the Indian village between the lakes, 
then up the valley of Catharine creek until 
reaching the source of thisstieam, and thence 
rising upon the hills and leading to Knacto. 
(Painted Post,) at the junction of the river 
here laid down as Kaygen, (Tioga.) and the 
lliver de Kanesto, thence by way of Knacto 
Castle to Fort du Quense. An Indian village, 
Thaggen, is marked upon the I\Iap at the con- 
fluence de Kanacto and the BrancheesidelaSus- 
quehana. This is undoubtedly the earliest 
chart which delineates the lakes and streams, 
the mountains and plains, of this picturesque 
region, then covered by the boundless forests 
of which the Red man w-as the only monarch. 
In the year following the date of this Map, 
the overthrow of the Fiench at Quebec termi- 
nated the great struggle for the dominion of 
the continent, which wouhl be deemed worthy, 
if a Homer still lived, of the epic numbers of 
an Iliad. 

CHAPTER II. 
Earhj French E^-pedition to the head-waters of the 
Chemung, and Border Warfare in this Eegion — 
The Early Hettlement and History of the Canisteo 
' and Conhocton Valleys, Sfc, &t'C- 

It was a balmy morning in early June, as I 
stood upon the picturesque shore of the river, 
where the waters of the Conhocton blend with 
those of the Canisteo to form the noble Che- 
mung ; but a few miles farther up this pleas- 
«Bt Tftilejr, where the forests have gireA place 



to cultivated fields, the Tioga, (the stream 
designated by Sir VV. Johnson as the Cayuga 
15ranch,) urates with the river Canisteo. This 
is rich historic ground. It was but a biief 
period of time alter the French had relin- 
quished their claim to New France, that an 
expedition was sent by the English into this 
region, and from this date, we have no longer 
to deal with dim and uncertain myths of 
Indian prowess, and imperfect legends of 
French expeditions, in tracing the hi.story of 
this section of country, in the Pist ; its rec- 
ords, no longer obscured with darkness that 
had rested upon the continent, now assume 
their proper place ami<l the annals of the His- 
toric time. It appears, from the VII volume 
of Colonial Documents, that two subjects of 
the British King, while passing, in the year 
1762, through the country of the Senec;;s, 
were murdired by two Indians living at tho 
village of Kanisteo which was settled by Shaw- 
nees and Dela wares, "stragglers from several 
tribes." Sir W. Johnson, upon learning of 
this occurrence, sent Lieut. Guy Jnhnson with 
a party to Onondaga Castle, where they ar- 
rived en the 4th of December, to demand the 
surrender of the murderers. Upon the 7th, the 
council gave an answer, the "chief speaker of 
Onondaga." Teycwarunte, delivering there- 
ply, that as the \illage of Kanisteo were under 
jurisdiction of the Six Nations, if the Senecas 
did not deliver the murderers, then the other 
tribes would do so. This promise, however, 
was only made to be broken ; another council 
was held the following year at Johnson's Hall, 
at which this matter was brought up by Sir 
W. Johnson, and earnestly pressed upon the 
attention of the Indian Sachems present — 
forty-two of their principal chiefs — but with- 
out resulting in the delivery of the murder- 
ers. Accordingly, the Iroquois, who were 
sincere]y attached to the English, at request 
of Sir W. Johnson, determined upon signal 
retribution to the vagrant Indians residmg 
along the Eanesteo. And, on the 1st day 
of April, in the year 1764, Capt. Montour, a son 
of the Indian Queen, Catharine Montour, and 
who had previously signalized his name, as 
we ascertain in consulting Vols. VI, VII, and 
VIII, of Colonial Documents, in conferences 
with the Indians at Onondaga, and at Fort 
Johnson, and also as being in command of va- 
rious parties of the Iroquois, as at the German 
Flatts in 1756 — with a hundred warriors set 
out from Ohguaga, (Windsor, Broome Co..) on 
the Susquehanna river, for the purpose of des- 
troying the villages of the Delawares, &c., lo 
cated upon the tributaries ot this riyer, the 
Kanesto and other streams. They successful- 
ly accomplished within two weeks the object 
of the expedition. Sir W. Johnson, In a com- 
munication dated 28th April, 1764, to Lieut- 
Gov. Golden, gives the following succinct nar- 
ativc of this hostile excursion .• "The first in- 
stant, Capt. Moutour with 140 Indians and a 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG VALLEY, ETC. 



few wliitu men. HCt out from Ohguaji'i, and on 
ariiviii;^ at llie tirst of the enemy's Towns 
fuuml the same aliandoned, which he burned. 
It consisted of 30 houses, built of square lofrs. 
with trood chimneys ; thence he went to and 
burned another of oO houses with four villa- 
ges, and then proceeiled to K misteo, which 
he likewise destroyed. It consisted of 60 .1,'ood 
houses, with tliree or four lire ]ilaces in each 
ciftiieni. Hiroandat the other Tovvns, he 
found a larjie quantity of Indi.ui corn, whinb 
he destroyed, &.C., (Vol. VII, Col. Docs )_- 
There exists reasons to suppose, from the sit- 
uation of tlie Indian towns marked on Pouch- 
et's Map, and descriptions . f the Indians towns 
elsewhere given, that the first village whicii 
Capt. Montour reduced to ashes is identical 
with the one desisxnated on the Map iis Knac- 
to, (Painted Post.) and he then proceeded to 
destroy an intermediate Indiin town, and 
then the castle or village f)f Canisteo. Capt. 
Montour, the leader of this early raid into the 
Canisteo Valley, was afterwanl present at the 
conference held at Fort Stanwix in 17tl8, when 
Sir W. Johnson negotiated a treaty with the 
Six Nations, securing an extensive cession of 
lands as marked on tiie .Map drawn at the 
time, in large red lines. This Map was correct- 
ed from Kaveuis earlier Map. It is a striking 
historical coincidence, that this point at the 
confluence of the Conhocton and Canisteo, 
rendered famous in our annals at such an e.irly 
date. as the sceneof the brilliimt exploit of this 
chieftain of tiie forest, Montour, which might 
rival the bidd exciii'sions of some chivalrous 
knight of the middle ages, should, after the 
lapse of many years, be the place where this 
Chief was buried, and become so widely famed 
as the spot where his comrades reared the rude 
monument recording his achievements-the 
Painted Po.-;l. During the summer of 177'.*, a 
large party of Tories and Inrlians, comaian- 
ded by the loyalist, McDonald, and the Sene- 
ca Chief. Hiakatoo, made a fearful incursion 
among the border settlements of the Susque- 
hanna, when they had successfully attacked 
Freeling"s Fort, but in a skirmish with the 
hardy yeoman under command of Capt. H. 
Boone, the Tories and Indians suffered a great 
loss, and returned lr<;m ttus raid with many 
wounded, l>y way of the Tioga, and beneath 
the l)road ehns where the Canisteo and Con- 
hocton met, (japt. Montour, the gallant war- 
rior and chief of the Senecas, who had been 
wounded in the conflict with the brave bor- 
derers, expired ; and his brethren of the wil- 
derness made his grave by the river's side, and 
above the last resting place of the warrior 
they reared a Post, upon which they inscribed 
or painted various rude devices and symbols, 
and this rude monument was afterwards 
often visited by the braves of the Senecas, and 
other tril)es. This Post disappeared "about 
the year 1810," as we are informed in the 
Hibtwry of Steubeu County. The place where 



it had stood is still well known. A few miles 
from this place, in the north-eastern put of 
the town of C(^rning, is the "Old Indian Tree," 
beneath whose shade the Pied men have piss- 
ed many hours in worship of the Great Spirit. 

It was upon the banks of the Canisteo — 
whose waters now murmur and gliile swiftly 
by me, tiien rippe along the fairy land 
which lies below — that amid the Revolution- 
ary War, in 1770, the pine trees were hewn 
down and fitted into large canoes, and when 
they were all launched upon this stream, then 
were euj barked upon this earliest fleet that 
had traversed its eddies, the savage war- 
riors and ren(>wneil chiefs of the Si.K Nations, 
the Butlers with their still more savage ren- 
egades and barbarians, and gaily dresseJ and 
accoutred with weapons of war. all ride in this 
mysteri us Armada down the river, along its 
dark gorges and beneath the shadows of over- 
hanging elms, then swiltly desend upon tha 
strong, rapid currents of the Chemung, till 
the long file of boats disappeared amiil the 
bills that bonier the noLile Susquehanna. It 
was this strange fleet, that gliding amid the 
light of day and amid the darkness of night, 
upon the watersof the Canisteo, whose brawling 
eddies dare not reveal the fearful mission of 
this squadron, that carried the party which iu 
1778, laid waste the lovely valley of Wyom- 
ing— the rude aimanent that had borne de- 
struciion to the peaceful hamlets of this ea- 
chanting region. 

Williarti Harris was the first Pioneer of Steu- 
ben CoiintN'. He came up the Chemung river 
soon alter the close of the Revolutionary War, 
and erected at Painted Post the first building 
occupied liy civilized man within the present 
boundaries of Steuben, the most western hab- 
itation ot the white man then in tne Soutnern 
tier of New York. The Indians assisted him 
in building ihis cabin . Harris was a Merchant, 
and sold bis wares t(t the Red men ot the for- 
est, early in the spring of 1787. Judge Bark- 
er, the Pioneer ot Urbana, found Harris loca- 
ted at Painted Post, and on the Chiistmis fol- 
lowing, upon going agiin to that place, he 
found the cabin of Harris burned, and Harris 
the Robinson Cruso of the wilderness, too, 
was gone ; but the trader was only temporari- 
ly absent, anil afterward returned to Painted 
Post, where he lived many years. At this 
time, when Judge Baker was making an ex- 
cursion into the wilderness beyond the Tioga, 
there was a solitary cabin near the junction of 
Cowanesque with Tioga river. Frederick Calk- 
ins, from Vermont, was the first farmer that 
settled iu Steuben Couuty. He located near 
the Chimney Narrows, in 1788. Eli Mead 
was the first Supervisor of the town of Painted 
Post, then comprised in Outario Cyunty, and 
he went to Canandaguia to attend the annual 
meeting of the Board of Supervisors. A Mr. 
Fuller kept the old Painted Post Tavern, a 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHKMUXG VAI.LRT, ETC. 



house built of round loprs, witb two apart- 
ments, one stoiy in heiglit. 

Anioni; the nott-d PioiiutTs of Steuben Coun- 
ty, toward the ch)se o; the list century should 
be raeutioiied Benjamin TiiUfrson, the re- 
nowned hunter. He was born in Virp;inia, in 
ITo'J, and vva^a relative of Daniel Boone. In 
early Hie be had removed to tiie region of the 
Susquelumna. where his taste for hunting was 
acfjuired. During tlie Revolutiouary War, lie 
WMS att.icheil to a coin|)aay of lillemen that 
was engaged in defence of the frontier settle 
inents. He was at the skirniisii of Freehng's 
Fort, before rijferred to. He was attaclied 
to tne party commanded by Capt. H.iwUins 
Bdoue, and there had a perilous escape. He 
likewise was ccnnected with the party of R an- 
gers that pursued tiie Indians alonu the (Jlie- 
luung and its tributary streams. He partici- 
pated In the border warfare of the Revolution, 
its adventures and bo d conflicts ; and at tlie 
termination of the war. he chose his home 
among tlie wild woods of theConhocton. The 
unexplored and trackless wilderness, the rifle 
his only companion, was indeed a home to his 
free adventurous spirit. He often led emi- 
grants through the wild labyiintlis of the for- 
est, to the promised lands beyond the fame<l 
country oi the Genesee. At one time be gui- 
ded Tallyrand, the accomplished and distin- 
guished Diplomatist, through the forests of 
this region. About the vear^l796, be took his 
goods m a boat up to the Pamted Post, and for 
a number of years, or till about 1805, kept 
the old hotel at Knoxville. It is s.iid that he 
ran the lirst raft upon the waters of the Can- 
isteo. In the year 1800, C. Hullnirt built an 
ark, and loading it with wheat, with his prim- 
itive boat decended the Canisteo, and the larg- 
er rivers below, to Baltimore. Benjamin Pat- 
terson died at Painted Post, in 18'o0, closing 
an ereiitful career of which numerous nmian^ 
tic incidents, strange and thrilling leminis 
cences, are yet related by the inhabitunts of 
this region. 'J-he lirst Store at P.unted Post, 
at wnicii goods were sold to the settlers, was 
kept by B. Eaton. He brought his tirst as- 
sortment of merchandise from Wattle's Ferry 
(now Unadiila.) in two canoes. Among the 
early Pioneers ot the old town of Painted Post, 
which was purchased of Phelj.s & Gorham in 
1/ JO, were Judge Knox, from New Jersey, in 
l<y.^. and Capt. L. Erwin and Col. A. Erwin, 
from Ireland, and who .Served in the American 
iirmy in the Revolution, in 17u4 ; also. J 
u inter, a hunter. 

Painted Pu.st was erected into a town in 
iiJb; m 1804 the number of taxable inhabi- 
tants was lao, the assessment roll, S52 004 5;S 
Its total tax, «2'J8. In 1852, the old histori- 
cal name <;1 Painted Post was changed to Vahu- 
ing. 1 was notable to gather full informa- 
tn.ii respecting the various new.-^papers which 
Had been punted at Painted Po.st, The-'Paint 
ea I-ost Herald" was commenced in March 



1848, D. C. Liimbard. Editor— the ••Cornvnj? 
Journal" was established Jan, 1st. 184(k the 
'■Coniiiig Democrat" was establislieil in 1840. 
The populitioii of Corning now exceeils six 
thousand inhaiiitants. 

In the year 178.S, a small pirty, consisting 
of tS. Bennett, Uri ih Stephens, ii. Crosby and 
Capt. J Jamison, iMinmenced a tour of explo- 
r.itiirti up tiie valley of the Chemung, and ot the 
l/onhocton, but found no sitr.aliun wliieh an- 
swered their anticipations, until striking across 
the densely wooded bills lying south of the 
Conhoctoii, they caine to the valley of the 
Canisteo. StanUingon the precipitous hmw of 
a bill overlooking this valley, through which 
the river glided amid the majestic elms, grace- 
ful in iples, and dark pines, that were grow- 
ing upon its banks in wild and inagniricent 
grandeur - a prospect of unrivaled and 
lascinating be.iuty was at once presented; 
while farther down this valley there was an 
open extent of several hundred acres, covereil 
only with tall, wild grass, and luxuriant 
flowers -as if some God liad removed Ironi 
the West one of its beautiful prairies, and 
placed it here. In the Indian s traditional 
lore there existed no reminiscences as to the 
origin of this meadow; the red-men said that it 
had existed here Irom time immemorial. In 
this strangely beautilul vale— amid this m.ig- 
nificent scenery, which even now in ifspietmes- 
que outline of romantic hill and swilily flow- 
ing river, at once arrests the Artist's eye — 
and as I stand here this balmy summer day, 
thrills every nerve witb pleasure: 

"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods 
A rapture on tlie lonely short." 

was indeed a favorable spot to commence a 
new settlement; and here this party of hardy 
pioneers .selecte.l their future home. In the 
autumn of 1789, Crosby and Stephens, with 
f)ortions of their respective families, after a 
toil.xome voyage up the rilts of thj river, ar- 
rived at the place of their pn posed settlement 
on the Upper Canisteo. They at once went 
into the forest, cut down the tref-s, and built 
a house of logs, 24x20 feet in dimension, con- 
taining a singe apartment illuminated !)y the 
blaze of ciMckiing timbers in tour large lire pla- 
ces, one being in each corner of the room.— 
Here the two families passed the winter of 
1780-90. and in the ensuing spri.ig were join- 
ed by S. Bennet, Col. J. Stephens, ^-e Mr. 
S. Btna. t built in 1793 the first Grist Mdliip.in 
the Ciinisteo, or rather it was erectid o/i Ben- 
net's creek, about a half mile fn m its junction 
with the Canisteo. 'i'lie first Tavern on the 
Canisteo, was established about the year 18! 
by Geo Hornell, (now known as Judge Her-, 
nell,) and J. Stefihens, a Baptist preacher, be- 
low Ben net's creek. Solomon B.-nnet was the 
first Captain of the earliest niilitaiy organiza- 
tion in Steuben County. Upon the liver I anks 
')t the Canisteo. and among f he siirrouiKling 
hills, were nurtured a race of yeomen, of bold 



8 



ntSTORICAI, SKETCH OF THE CnEMUNd VALLEY. ETC. 



ndventurers. an athletic, boisterous, roiifih and 
daring clfiss of men, wlio could run. wrestle 
or figlit, in a manner that would not have 
done dishonor to the brave LWons of the Old 
World; and the rude, stout settlers, who par- 
ticipated and gloried in the adventures of 
chivalrous daring, always ready to take share 
in the Olympic amusements of the borders, 
had soon estahlished the fame of "Uanisteer" 
throughout this region of country. Perhaps 
some future Walter Scott may gather up these 
legends of the forest, of the bold borderers 
that have now passed away, and weave them 
into song. 

In 1788, upon the 21st day of November, 
the State of Massuchusetts had conveyed to 
Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, for con- 
sideration of three hundred thousand pounds, 
all its right, title and interest in lands which 
now constitute the counties of Steuben, Yates, 
Ontario, part of Wayne, part of Monroe, also 
portions of Genesee, Livingston and Allegany, 
containing some 2,600,000 acres. The Indian 
title to this iramenhe estate had been purchas- 
ed l)y Phelps and Gorham, in deed dated 18th 
of November, 1790, conveyed to Robert Mor- 
ris, of Philadelphia, all their lands then re- 
maining unsold, amounting to over a mil- 
lion of acres. Robert Morris, by deed bearing 
date April 11th. 1792, conveyed to Charles 
Williamson a million and two hundred thous- 
and acres. Williamson was agent of Sir Wil- 
liam Pultney, England. Sir W. Pultney was 
a son of James Johnstone, and assumed the 
name of Pultney on his marriage with Mrs. 
Pultiiey, neice of the Earl of Bath. Sitting 
in their princely mansions in London, the 
British Baronet and his associates, built a gor- 
geous dream. Before them flitted a vision 
of the city that should vise, with its cnstles 
and busy marts, upon the upper tiibutaries of 
the Susquehanna. This city which they would 
rear in the wilderness, outrivaling tlie brilliant 
achievements of a Caliban, should, by a com- 
mercial stratagem, tal;e the key of success 
from Quebec and New York, and become the 
jiroud Metropolis of the continent. Never be- 
fore had siicii a gorgeous, brilliant air-castle 
floated bef(n'e human eyes! Capt. Charles 
Williamson, a gentleman of talent, of energy 
and spirit, versatile and impetuous, was se- 
lected to carry out this enterprise, to turn in- 
to reality the golden dream whose hues were 
mirrored upon the Western sky. He arrived 
iit P)althnove in 1791, and ere long establislu'd 
his ceiitial quarters, preparatory to building 
this Metropolis of the wildwoods, at Niu'th- 
iimberland, on the Susquehanna, at the junc- 
tion of the West Branch. In the beautiful 
■valley of the Conhocton, some sixteen miles 
from the confluence of the river with theCani 
steo, lo form the noble Chemung —in a pic 
turesque situation where the valley assumed 
a wide extent, near the waters of a fairy little 
lake, which glistened in the sunlight like some 



fabulous stream of the Orient — Capt. William- 
son determined to locate his future city, to 
erect its walls and build its bastions. In 1793, 
he commenced building the village here — 
which he named Baih, in honor of LadjBith. 
Before the close of the season filteen families 
had become residents of the new settlement. 
Ihe first Tavern was constructed of pine logs, 
in two aj)artments, one story in height. It 
was kept by a family by name of Metcalf. — 
Mr. Sherman l\Ietcalf afterwards removed to 
Ellicottville, N. Y. Another house of enter- 
tainment was opened by a William Dunn, up- 
on the south-east corner of the public Square. 
A Mr. Cruger, from Denmark, next occupied 
this Tavern. Charles Cameion, from Scotland, 
kept the first store in the village. He was 
also the first Postmaster, the mail being brot' 
once a week from Northumberland, (as stated 
by Gen. McClure in his naiative of the early 
settlement of Bath.) Rol)ert Campbell, D. Mc- 
Kinsie, H. McElwn, Chas. McClure, &c., 
were among the early pioneers of this section. 
About the year 1794, C^apt. Williamson estal>- 
lished a theatre at Bath. In 1796, he caused 
a race course, one mile in circuit, to be con- 
structed near the village. Upon the day ap- 
pointed for the first race, some two thousand 
persons had a'^sembled— sportsmen from Vir- 
ginia, New Jersey, Maryland, from Philadel- 
phia and New Yoik, were there to enter the 
lists. These races added much to the renown 
of the village of the Plains. In theyear 1795, 
the Conhocton was explored and partially 
cleared of obstructions. Geo. McClure built 
an ark 75 feet in length by 1(3 in breadth, and 
loading it with a cargo of staves run it down 
the river. This was the first raft that had 
navigated its waters. 

But this Baronia' stronghold, in its infancy, 
was threatened with destiuction. Capt. Wil- 
liamson had become interested in the settle- 
ment at Sodus. He received from Col. Simi- 
coe. Governor of Canada, a warlike note (de- 
manding that he should immediately relin- 
quish his designs, &c. 'i'he administration at 
W^ashington assumed charge of the matter, 
and required Capt. Williamson to place his 
village in position of defence. Several Block 
Houses, and an entrenclitid position surround- 
ed by picket defence, were put in course of im- 
mediate con.struction. Several pieces ol' artille- 
ry and a thousand stand of arms were ordered 
from Albany. A Regiment composed of some 
live or six hundred men, was organized, Wil- 
liamson receiving commission as Colonel. — 
The forces were clrilled and instructed in the 
art of war, and a guard was stationed every 
night to prevent surprise. Bath, indeed, pre- 
sented a inilita y attitude. Nevertheless, the 
hostile British expeditions did not make de- 
scent from the frowning fortresses of Niagara 
ind 0>wego, of which the English still kept 
possession. Bath was not beseitjeJ; the threat- 
ened war did not ensue. 



HISTOBICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG VALLEY, ETC. 



9 



Steuben was organized into a separate Coun- 
ty, the six towns comprising it Lieing taken 
liom Ontario, in 179G. The tirst Court of Com- 
mon Pleas was convened on the 21st of June, 
1796, William Kersey presiding Judge. The 
Coiiit was held in tJie new Court House, a 
framed building. Among the lawyers present 
were N. W. Howell, Vincent Mathews, Wm. 
li. Verplanck, Thomas Morris, &c. Among the 
•early members of the Steuben County Bar 
were Geo. D. Cooper, Wni. Stuart, David 
Jones, D. T. Blake, S. T. Haight, and in sub- 
sequent years, Daniel Crugar, W. B. Roches- 
ter, Henry Welles, H. W. Kogcrs and Edward 
Howell, ranked among the prominent mem- 
bers of the legal fraternity. In 1802, Col. 
Williamson's agency of the Pultney estate, 
terminated. Robert Troupe, Esq., succeeded 
to this agency. In" 1807 the Rev. John Niles. 
a Congregational Minister, who in 1803 had 
settled at Prattsburg, was employed to preach 
■every alternate Sabbatn at Bath. Among the 
prominent men who came to the County at an 
early date, w«re Samuel Baker, (atterward 
Judge.) Capt. John Slieather, (an otificer in the 
Revolution and a favorite of Gen. Washing- 
ton,) Capt. Joel Pratt, Judge Porter, Silas 
Wheeler, (who was one of the men under com- 
mand of Arnold in his march through the wil- 
<JerDess in the expedition to Quebec, and was 
iiear Montgomeiy, when in the assault upOn 
the British fortifications the American Gene- 
ral fell mortally wounded,) and Col. Lindley, 
the pioneer of Tioga Valley. 

In 179(3 the "Bath Gazette and Genesee Ad- 
vertiser" was published by Wm. Kersey, and 
James Eddie. This was the first new.spnper 
printed in Western New York. The same 
year another paper, "Ontario Gazette," wms 
c'btablished at Geneva. The Bath Gazette had a 
list of some live hundred subscribers, but was 
■only published for a brief time. In 181G. 
Benj. Smead commenced the pablination, at 
Bath, of the "Steuben and Allegany Patriot," 
which I believe was cowtiniied gome twenty- 
live years. In 1815, David Runisey commenced 
ihe publication of the "Steuben Farmer's Ad- 
vocate." The "Steuben Courier" Avas com- 
anenced at Bath, in 1843, and it is still pub- 
lished at thisplace. The "Temperance Gem," 
edited by Jennie and Caroline Rumsey, was 
started in 1854:. In 1804, the taxable inhabi- 
tants of Bath were 119; its assessment roll 
$2,739.23. The population now numbers some 
5,300. The first buildings in Bath were con- 
structed of logs. These were succeeded by 
modest framed houses. Since 1840, when I 
had passed through this village, 1 notice that 
many elegant edifices, tasteful suburban resi- 
dences, have added to the iittractions of this 
rural village. And, asl stand upon the hills 
south of this pleasant village, the rays of the 
■declining summer sun resting upon the sweet 
lake below, and the circular laaige of abrupt 
and lofty hills, covered :with ^m&a. fields and 



luxuriant woodland, only broken by that 
gorge upon the north, with its hazy vista 
opening to the fairy valley of the Crooked 
Lake which stretches dimly away in graceful 
but indistinct outlines; I feel, I realize all the 
beauty of this scene ; but, upon the glowing 
canvass, and not upon this paper, can its love- 
liness be pictured . 

CHAPTER III. 
Earh/ History of the region mljoininq Chemung 
Valley, lying on Susquehanna River — The Mas- 
sacre at Wyoming in 111?)— Indian raids at Cher- 
ry Valley, and other places upon the Ilcud-waters 
of the Susquehanna ichich led to the organizatioji 
of Sullivan's Expedition. 

A beautiful day had pa.ssed while I leisure- 
ly descended the Conhocton and the Chemung 
— passed like the waters of this majestic river 
which are gliding by. 

'"The wave I gaze on now returns no more." 

Another balmy day has come, and as I stand 
musing by the side of the river, a lew miles 
below Elmira, imagination too, glides away 
with these rapidly rushing waters, through 
the pleasjint vales and dim vitas that lie in 
the distance, until it becomes blended with 
the early historical reminiscences of the Val- 
ley of Wyoming. This is indeed to our mem- 
ory classical ground. In childhood, I had 
read with delight Campbell's beautiful Poem, 
Gertrude of Wyoming, and its picturesque de- 
scription of the pastorial happine.ss and quiet 
that had made its home here, lingered in my 
recollections: 

"Delightful Wyoming! beneath thy skies 

The happy Shepherd swain.s had naught to do 
But feed their flocks on green declivities." 

In the Columbiad, I find its author, Barlow, 
thus refers to the expedition of the Tories and 
Indians that laid this valley at waste: 

"His savage hordes, the murderous Johnson 

leads, 
Files through the woods, and treads the tangled 

■weeds." 

I can only wander over this interesting, his- 
toric ground for a moment. It was reserved 
for the pen of our country's most gifted and 
eminent Poet, whose genius has wed the liter- 
ature of our land to immortal fame, to pic- 
ture this valley in all its loveliness, and re- 
call its thrilling historical reminiscences, which 
has been so beautifully and truthfully done 
in Halleck's "Wyoming." Thus reads the 
closing stanza: 

"And on the margin of yon orchard hill 

Are marks where time-w^orn battlements 
have been. 
And in the tall grass traces linger still 

Of "arrowy frieze and wedged ravelin." 
Five hundred of her brave that valley green 

Trod on the morn in soldier-spirit gay; 
But twenty lived to tell the noonday scene— 

And where are now the twenty ? Passed away. 
Has death no triumphhours, save on the battl© 
day ?" 



10 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUKS VALLEY, KTC. 



In the last line of this fascinatintr poem, 
quoted above. America's illustrious Poet has 
expressed, or rather suga;ested thnu2;hts, not 
less poetical, than of profound philosophical 
and historical sisuificaiice. 

But. I cannot dwell upon the scenes con- 
riected with this valley except as tliey may re- 
late to events which have transpired in the 
region particularly emhraced in our historical 
enquiries. Early as 1742, the devout Mission- 
ary, Zirzendorf. commenced his worthy lahora 
among the Indians of this region, winning the 
unlettered children of the forest to the pare 
faith of the Christian religion. In 1753, an 
association for the purpose of making a set- 
tlement in the Wyoming Valley was organiz- 
ed in Counectiont, which held claim to this 
section under its ancient charter. This asso- 
ciation also purchased the title of lands bor- 
dering on the Susquehanna, at an Indian Coun- 
cil held at Albany in 1754. The Pennsylva- 
iiians, however, claimed jurisdiction of this 
territory under the grant made to William 
I'enn. Resulting from this conflict of author- 
ity, arose in succeeiling years, contests and 
border wars, with varying triumphs and <le- 
feats, that would have been worthy of the mid- 
dle ages— worthy of that era when valiant 
Knight, with his mailed retainers, btavely 
battled to defend the fair fame of Ladye-love. 
The annals of this region have been traced re- 
spectively by Chapman, Heckwelder, Miner, 
Stone and Peck. I will recall an episode in 
the strange history of the Wyoming Valley, 
or Westmorelaml, as it had become known. — 
The record of the siege of the several Forts, 
the battle, the surrender, and the tragical 
massacre, that occurred here in the first days 
of July, 1778, has become familiar as house- 
hold words in American History. \)pon the 
night succeeding the battle, terrific scents 
ifrere enacted. Amid the darkness and gloom 
of midnight, Queen Esther, with the fitnids 
which done her bidding, perfonned the fear- 
ful orgies of guilt and Idood, not unlike the 
■*reiid Crimes, the dark incantations of Hecate 
in the witche's cave. The bloody rock where 
this Priestess of blood sacrificed the lives of 
innocent human beings, however, had assum- 
ed in the present fearful drama, the place of 
the "boiling cauldron," around which witches 
performed the 'mysterious, damning "deed 
■without a name." Queen Esther, as men- 
tioned on page 176 of Miner's "History of 
Wyoming," resided upon the banks of the 
Susquehanna in "sullen retirement," her pal- 
ace being located near the confluence of the 
Tioga with the Susquehanna, within the pre- 
cincts of Westmoreland. A large number — 
about a hundred fugitives, women and chil- 
dren, escaped from the settlement, and in the 
darkness of night, without provisions, and 
many of them without clothing, fled thrbugh 
the wilderness for safety — while they stifled 
ih9 hunger which they Buff&red la ihe hope of 



preserving their lives. This flight presents a 
scene of dramatic interest rarely surpassed in 
history. 

I have thus glanced at the thrilling events 
which occurred in this Valley in 1778, because 
they had lieen the prihcipal agency, together 
with British and Indian Atrocities committed 
in the preceeding year in Tryon County, the 
expeditions led by St. Legar and Brant in the 
Mohawk Valley, in awakening tlie vestribu- 
tion visited upon Ihem in 1779. In Novem* 
l)er 1778, Butler and Brant, with their fol- 
lowers made a descent upon Cherry Valley. — 
Thirty-two inhabitants, women and children, 
were killed, besides a number of men com- 
posing the garrison, being massacred. Mrs. 
Campbell, with her children, were carried in- 
to captivity. The family were separated at 
the time they were made .prisoners, but were 
re-united at Niagara, with the exception of 
one child, James S. Campbell, then six years 
of age; but he. after an interval of two years 
of captivity among the Indians in Canada, 
was restored to his mother at Montreal. He 
afterwards became widely known as the Hon. 
J. S. Campbell, and his elegant residence at 
Cherry Valley was built upon the site of the 
old family mansion, which, in the Revolution- 
ary war, hail been used as a Fort. His son, 
the Hon. William W. Campbell, late Justice 
of, the Court of Appeals, and author of "Annals 
of Tryon County," &c., thus writes me, April 
18th, 18tJ5, in respect to his Venerable parenf: 
"My father. James S. Campbell, is still living. 
He lives with we at this place- Cherry Valley; 
is now in his 93d year, and is still hale ami 
well." The piowess of the Iroquois confeder- 
acy had received some check at Fort Stanvvix, 
and also at the batt'e of Oriskauy, where the 
intrepid Gen. Herkimer was wounded. But hos- 
tile expeditions continued to be made through- 
out the sumtnerand autumn ot 1778, among the 
border settlements, as at tlie German Flatts, 
and in the Schoharie Country. 

These events which I have briefly noticed, 
led to the organization of the expedition un- 
der command of Gen. Sullivan, in 1779, which 
destroyed the Indian towns in Western New 
York, and effectually crushed the Indian pow- 
er within their once proud and hitherto uncon- 
quered domain. 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Organization of Campaign (Iff 1779 against the 
Indians of Western New York, 6?/ Gen. Wash' 
ington ; the principal command of Expedition as' 
signed to Gen. John Sullivan — The American Ar- 
my axcend the Valley of Chemung, defeat the al- 
lied British and Indians — Precise locality of the 
Battle-ground — 'Farther progress of the army in 
the country of the Iroqt^is — Destruction of the la' 
dian tovm at "Genesee, and return of the Expedi- 
tion, &CC. 
The sagacious and comprehensive mind of 

Washington had originated, as the eflfectuai 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OP THE CHEMUNG VALLEY, ETC. 



11 



defense against Indian hostility, the master 
policy of the decisive campaign of 1779, carry- 
ing the warfare against the Indians in accord- 
ance with the only mode in which it can be 
successfully waged. This mode, however, was 
nol strictly inaccordance with military rules laid 
down by European Tacticians; on the con- 
trary, it adopted the Indian manner of fight- 
ing— following the enemy into their strong- 
holds, burning their towns, and destroying 
their means of subsistence. The command of 
the expedition against the Six Nations was 
entrusted to Gen. John Sulivan. It had at 
tirst, been proposed that Gen, Gates should 
have direction of this command, but the in- 
tention subsequently was abandoned. Gen. 
Kullivan was horn in Berwick, Maine, 1740. — 
Arriving at mature years, he read law, and 
removed to New Hampshire. He was a dele- 
gate to the first Continental Congress, and was 
afterwards engaged in command of the expe- 
dition which captured Fort William and Ma- 
ry, at Portsmouth. He was one among the 
eight Brigadier Generals which Congress ap- 
pointed in 1775, and in 1776 received appoint- 
ment as Major General in the Continental Ar- 
my. In 1777 he was engaged in the battles 
of Brandyvvinc and Germantown, and in the 
winter of 1777-8, assumed coramanii of the 
troops of Pdiode Island, and con<lucted the ex- 
pedition against Newport in August of 1778. 
The Asseml>ly of the State of Rhode Island in 
Fehuary, 1779— as will be seen in Vol. VIII 
of "Records of tiie State of Rhode Island" — 
had voted their thanks to Gen. Sullivan, in 
consideration "of the active zeal with which 
he hath exerted the forces under him, for tlie 
preservation of this State, and the security of 
its inhabitants"— (Page 508, Vlllth vol. of 
"Kec(rls.") Such, briefly, had been the his- 
tory of Gen_. Sullivan, previous to his receiving 
the appointment to take chief command of 
the army designed for the overthrow of the 
vast and powerful Indian con fed racy which 
hitherto had been the successful ally of the 
English in the terrible warfare waged upon 
the Border Settlements, as the desolated ham- 
lets of the German Flatts, Fort Plain, Stone 
Arabia, Cherry Valley, Unadilla, Minnisink, 
and other places within Tryon and Ulster 
counties, whose names have indeed become 
chxssic in the annals of the Revolution, so fcar- 
lully attested. 

Gen. Sullivan, in a communication dated 
"16 April, 1779," in a very able manner sub- 
mitted his views relative to the proposed ex- 
pedition, to Gen. Washington, the Comman- 
der-in Chief of the American Army; and the 
opinions advanced in this letter were substan- 
tially adopted in the arrangement of this im- 
portant campaign. This paper will be seen on 
page 264, vol. II, of "Correspondence of the 
American Revolution, edited by Jared Sparks;" 
and it affords, as the results of the campaign 
have shown, ample proof of the superior mili- 



tary skill and knowledge of the officer who 
had been assigned command of this expedi- 
tion against the Six Nations. 

Gen. Washington— whose masterly skill and 
judgment in the prosecution of warfare, 
against the Indians, had been evinced upon 
the battle-ground near the Monongahela. 
where upon the memorial 9th of July, 1756, 
the army of Braddock were led into ambus 
cade by the subtle warriors of the forest, and 
were only, after the fall of Gen. Bradtlock, 
rescued from entire destruction by the bravery 
and skill of Washington— had proposed to 
carry the terrors and calamities of war into 
the Iroquois' own domain, destroy their strong- 
holds and burn their towns, in a communica- 
tion to Congress, January 12th, 1779, mopt 
ably urged the importance of this movements 
as the only efHcient protection to the patriots 
in all the border towns of New York and Penn- 
sylvania. Washington was only in his seven- 
teenth year when he began his explorations 
in the Indian territory beyond the Alleganies, 
which he continued for a number of years, be- 
ing engaged in diplomatic as well fls military 
excursions among the Western tribes, and 
had thus acquired a thorough knowledge of 
the Indian character, and which afterward be- 
came of such indispensible avail to the cause 
of the Revolution shown by his wisdom in origi-] 
nating and planning the campaigns against 
the Indians, and which conduced in an emi- 
nent degree to our national success in the 
struggle for Independence. 

It Avas arranged that the principal division 
of the Army designed for the invasion of the 
Indian country should proceed under imme- 
diate command of Gen. Sullivan, along the 
Susquehanna foward the head-waters of this 
majestic river, where upon its confluence with 
the Tioga it would be joined by another di- 
vision under command of Gen. James Clinton 
— and thence, in combined array, march into 
the popolous Indian country. It may here- 
marked, that Gen. James Clinton was born in 
Ulster Co., 1736. At the age of twenty, then 
holding rank as Captain, was engaged in the 
assault upon Fort Frontenac; received ap- 
pointment of Colonel in 1775, and participa- 
ted in the expedition to Canada under Gen. 
Montgomery. In 1776 he was appointed Brig- 
adier General, and was actively engaged in 
service connected with the war -until 1779, 
when ho became associated with Gen^ Sullivan 
in the expedition against the western Indians. 
The name, the family of the Clintons has in- 
deed become one of the most illustrious known 
in American History. George Clinton, a 
brother of Gen. James Clinton here referred 
to, occupied the important position as Gov- 
ernor of New York during the war of the Rev- 
olution; and in a communication to Gen. 
Washington, dated "18fh May, 1779," had 
given his views, in an able and comprehensive 
manner, relative to military arrangeraentg rC' 



12 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNff VALLEY, ETC. 



quired for successful prosecution of the intend- 
ed carapait^n against the Six-Nations— (this 
letter will be found, page 298, &c., of second 
vol, "Correspondence Am. Revolution.) De 
Witt Chnton, a son of Gen. James Clinton, it 
need scarcely be said, acquired enduring and 
pre-eminent fame as one of the ablest among 
the many dit-tinguished statesmen who at va- 
rious times have held the place .as Governor of 
the State of New York, without mentioning 
other learned and eminent men more recently 
connected with this family. Gen. Clinton, 
with five brigades having numerical strength 
of 1500, commenced his march on the 17th of 
June from Canajoharie, his point d'appiii in 
the Mohawk Valley, across a hill}'^ country to 
Otsego Lake; but this Lake, owing to drouth 
of summer season, would not admit of the pas- 
sage of his boats, amounting to 220 batteaux, 
and carrying a park of Artillery, stores and 
provisions over its waters, and Gen. Clinton 
had resource to constructing a dam across the 
lower portion of the Lake, thus raising its 
■waters to such extent that upon removal of 
the arlifitial obstruction, the accumated floods 
rapidly carried his armament to its destination ; 
and upon the 22d of August he formed a junc- 
tion with the main division under Gen. Sulli- 
van which had ascended the Susquehanna, at 
Tioga point, and their united force nowamount- 
ed to five thousand men — the respective brig- 
ades under command of Clinton, Hand, Max- 
well, Poor and Proctor. Some time previous- 
ly, Gen. Schuyler had communicated inteli- 
gence to Clinton, that the enemy were already 
aware of the objects of this expedition ; the 
allied British and Indian forces, in fact, had 
made ample preparations for defense, and 
erected intrenchments upon •the Chemung, 
where they awaited the approach of the Amer-' 
lean army. From the year 1634, when Car- 
tier had ascended the St. Lawrence, and erect- 
ed upon its shores the standard of the French 
King, the French and English had contended 
for the posession and control of the Continent. 
Both of these Powers, as the most power- 
ful auxillery in securing the coveted object, 
sought the alliance and aid of the Indian 
Tribes ; until the defeat of the French arms at 
Niagara, at Louisburg, and finally at Quebec 
in 1759, gave to the English, and the numer- 
ous Indian tribes with whom they were thence- 
forward allied, the absolute and supreme do- 
minion of all the lands of the Continent. Sir 
William Johnson, as the representative of the 
British Monarch, obtained and exercised an 
unrivaled ascendency over the Indians, and 
during a long term of years lived in the opu- 
lent splendor, the luxurious freedom and pow- 
er which characterised the Baronets of the 
middle ages. Johnson Hall, which was the 
only Barronial Mansion ever built and sus- 
tained upon American soil, being the central 
position of that imperial power which now 
ruled ia unquestioned snpremacy upon the 



continent ; again, this majestic and mighty 
Empire, the rule of the EnglfJih power in 
America, was awaiting the abitrament of arms 
here amid the quiet forests bordering upon the 
Chemung ; here the nioht eminent among tlie 
Briti.sh leaders. Sir John Johnson, Col. Guy 
Johnson, Col. John Butler — while the haugh- 
ty warriors of the Iroquois were led by their 
own subtle chiefs, JThayendanegea, (''the Mons- 
ter Brant,") as well as Corn-Planter and Red- 
Jacket — were assembled to tai^e command,, ini 
this hour of emergency, of the_ combined Brit- 
ish.and Indian force, amounting to some 200i 
Engli.sh troops, and 1300 Iroquois, securely 
entrenched among the wooded hills upon tht; 
Chemung. 

The American army, under command of 
Gen. Sullivan, was delayed several days at Ti- 
oga in making preparations for their march 
into the Indian territory. Upon the 2(lth of 
August the army commenced its movwment in 
the following order of battle. Major Parr, com- 
manding corps of Riflemen, forming the ad- 
vanced-guard — the brigades of Generals Hand, 
Maxwell, ami Poor, with Proctor's artillery 
occupying the central column, constituting 
the main body of the army, while Gen. Clin- 
ton's brigade l>rought up the rear. (See "Jour- 
nal" of the Epxd.) and upon the first day the 
army marched some three miles and encamped 
for the night. The succeeding day, 27th of 
Aug. the army resumed its march, making the 
distance of six miles, andthen foimed encamp- 
ment. Upon the 28th of August, the route of 
the army lay through difficult mountain roads, 
and Gen. Maxwell's brigade being detached 
for the purpose of crossing the west bank of 
the river, the whole army marched this day 
only two miles. 

Previous to the arrival of Gen. Clinton at 
Tioga, Gen. Sullivan, who had reached that 
place upon the 11th of August," detached a 
small party the same evening to reconnoit?e 
the enemy's position. This scout returned up- 
on the succeeding day, and (quoting from Col. 
Hubley's Journal,) with information: "made 
several discoveries at Chemung, an Indian vil- 
lage twelve viiles distant from this 2}lace :" and ac- • 
cording ly it was determined to destroy at once 
this prominent Indian village, and the main 
army commanded by Gen. Sullivan immedi- 
ately commenced its march toward Chemung, 
but owing to the darkness of the nightdid not 
reach this town until the next morning, the 
13th of August, hut the village had been evac- 
uated on approach of the American Army by 
the Indians, and the army had advanced about 
a mile beyond this deserted town when the 
vanguard discovered the enemy occupying a 
lofty hill upon the east bank of the Chemung 
river, ^nd the American forces at once made 
an intrepid attack upon this position, from 
which, by the determined bravery of the as- 
sault, our troops soon succeeded in dislodging 
the Indians, who made a precipitate retreat. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG VALT-EY, ETC. 



IS 



cunying with them their own wavriois killed heldin reserve. This skillful arningenient 



in this engagement, ''while the American ar- 
my suffered a loss of seven killed, and ten 
wounded- the tir.'Jt sacrifice made hy our gal- 
lant troops. The army then reduced the 
large Indian village of Chemung to ashes, and 
returned the same day to 'J'ioga. 'i'his bril- 
liant and successful expedition was the pre- 
liminary movement, the prelude to the final 
attack and overthrow of the proud Iroquois 
confederacy ; the reverberations of our arms 
liad startled the Acvvinoshioni from iiis repose 
amid the wildwoods, the luxurant hills, and 
beautiful streams, of his own empire. 

Kesuming the narative of the expedition at 
the place where I had made interlude after 
refcning to the termination of the march up- 
on the loth August, and encampment of our 
troops at Chemung upon ground where the 
Indian village had formerly stood — the Amer- 
ican army resumed its march, in the same or- 
der as upon tlie 2f)th, ahout nine o'clock on 



these vigorous orders were promptly and brave- 
ly cnforcwl. The light corps made a brilliant 
and intrepid charge upon tlie veteran British 
troops and the savage Indian warriors, who- 
sheltered behind their formidable breastwork, 
as well as rocks, thickets and trees, directed 
an incesant fire upon our brave columns wlio 
fought with unsui passed her(jism, and with 
varying success and di^comforture, for two 
liours— the Iro()Uois, animated by brave words 
and feailess exertions of ISrant. who like a 
demon of evil ranged every part of the en- 
sanguined field, held their position with un- 
equaled obstinacy — at the same time the ene- 
my who occnpietl the lofty hill upon the ex- 
treme left fighting with determined bravery, 
resisting the assault of the gallant legion led 
by Clinton and Poor, step by step, ami inch 
by inch, and were only driveu from their 
rocky fortresses at the point of the bayonet; 
the sun was sinking in the western horizon — 



the memorable 27th of August, and on its I and it seemed that approaching darkness alon(* 



"arrival near the ridge where the action of 
the 18th commenced" the van-guard perceived 
several of the enemy, who, upon approach of 
our forces retreated; the corps under command 
of Major Parr gave immediate but cautious 
pursuit, and proceeded "aliotit a mile," when 
a large force of the subtle Indian warriors were 
discovered very artfully concealed behind an 
extensive fortification, which had been covered 
from view by trees and boughs. being cut, and 
iu their vernal foliage, brought and placed in 
an upright position in front of this redoubt. 
This position was admirably chosen, evincing 
in its selection consumate military skill and 
Kti-ategical art, occupying the east bank where j heroic, seried columns advanced with'hurried 



could decide the terrilde conflict by givmg 
victory to the unyielding Iroquois; still from 
everv waving, rustling thicket and shrub were 
unceasingly sent the nnseen messengers of 
death upMi our ranks, until it now seemed to 
the Am.ericans, as erst to Macbeth, that — 

^^Birnavi ivood he come to Dunsinane;" 

along that embattled line the American columns 
for a momenthalted, wavered, then above their 
Vdeeding ranks, there seemed to hover, like 
a guardian angel, the form of absent wile, 
with her babe clasped to her bosom, shielding 
it from the murderous tomahawk— (Tf/am, the 



a large bend had been formed in Chemun 
river, the extreme right of the entienchment 
rested upon this stream, while its circutious 
and rapid currents placed the rear secure from 
hostile surprise or approach, and the left of 
the' redoubt rested upon a secure base of a 
precipitous and lofty hill — the entire work 
extending some half-mile in length; a beauti- 
ful Island, which indeed seemed like realiza- 
tion of some enchanted and fairy dream of Para- 
dise, slumbered amid the waters of the Che- 
mung within a short distance — while in the 
hazy sunlight the vernal magnificence of sum- 
mer began to blend its sylvan hues with the 
crimson tints, and gorgeous yet fading colors 
of Autumn. Geii. Hand immediately advanc- 
ed the light corps within three hundred yards 
of the enemy's entrenchment; and. Gen. Sul- 
- livan arriving upon the ground, then directed 
the rifle corps, undercommand of Gen. Hand, 
to assault the enemy's works in front, while 
Generals Clinton's and Poor's brigades were 
ordered to storm and attempt to turn the left 
flank of the British and Indian force which 
was stationed upon the steep hills in that di- 
rection, and Col. Proctor to support the at- 
tack with artillery, while Gen. Maxwell's was 



step to the deadly charge, disappearing amid 
the fire and smoke whiclr enveloped all the 
battlefield, while our artillery dealt upon the 
enemy a terrific cannonade, and the martial 
strains of the Pvcpublic cheered our men to 
the fearful, impetuous charge — and along their 
extended, embattled lines, the British and their 
Indian allies, wavered; the voice of the Iro- 
quois Chieftain, Brant, then echoed over the 
battlefield with the despairing shout of defeat 
— Oonah ! Oonah '.—and with that fatal cry the 
hitherto unyielding and undismayed ranks of 
the Iroqu')is wairiovs, and their allies, were 
broken, and all fled in panic and confusion-.-— 
■With that cry of defeat, now echoing amid 
their native forest, the Acwinoshi confederacy, 
which had so long maintained by its powers 
undisputed supremacy of the continent, and 
held the Algonquin and Appalachian groups of 
the Hunter-race in subjection, was overthrown 
and dismembered, forever; the sovereignty, 
the greatness, and the power of the Iroquois 
departed never more to return ! To the Iro- 
quois this field was indeed a fatal Waterloo-: 
and no other .battlefield would restore to their 
empire its_lo,st piestige and glory! The League 
of the Six Nations, which had successfully 



14 



niSTOmCAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG VALLEY, ETC. 



met anil repulsed every invasion of their ter- 
ritory, defeating the j)Owerful expeditions of 
(.'iiiimplain in 1615, of De-la Burne in 1664— 
of the marquis De Nonville in 1687, as (men- 
tioned in "Colonial History" of N. Y.)— and 
t>f the Count De Frontenac in 1796; iuid who 
had during? the preceedinof years of the Revo- 
lution been the terror of all the border settle- 
ments of our country, and whilst allied with 
the British had presented an invincible bar- 
rier to our military success; but here, by the 
waters of the Chemung which were speeiling 
away to minicle with the ocean, and upon this 
quiet day as summer's re^al splendor was fad- 
ing and dying— the power and grandeur of 
the Iroquois had fled and become lost m the 
mythes of their race, the glory of their em- 
jiire had found pall and tomb— and was bu- 
ried forever ! 

Nevertheless, this auspicious victory, so im- 
portant if not indeed indispensable to the tri- 
umph of the American cause, was attained 
with ouly a comparatively small loss to the 
patriot ai my — ouly six were killed, and about 
lifty wounded. Our fallen braves were buried 
near the battle ground. 

"How sleep the brave who sink to rest, 
By all tlieir country's wislies blest! 
AV'lien spring, witli dewy lingers cold, 
Returns to deck tlieir hallow'd mold"" 

Then honor comes, a pilgrim gray 
To bless the turf tliat wraps their claj'; 
And freedom shall awhile repair 
To dwell a weeping hermit there ! 

It is known that Sir John Johnson, Brant, 
and indee<l all the prominent leaders of the 
allied British and Indians in tlie fierce conflicts, 
the marvelous scenes of the Revolution, were 
present at the tattle of the Chemung, encour- 
aging their followers in performance of acts of 
unparalellcd bravery. 

The battle of the Chemung took plnce, (as 
will be seen in consulting the various Jour- 
nals kept by officers of the expedition, and 
other documents,) some tliirteen or fourteen 
miles from Tioga, and seven or eight miles 
below Elmira. The Journal already quoted, 
mentions that the army proceeded from the 
encampuient whicli it had made on the even- 
ing of 27th yVugust, after the battle, some 
'•four miles and a half, through a mountain- 
oub country, and an almost continuous defile 
on east side of Cayuga branch," "then crossed 
Cayuga branch, where it forks with a stream 
running east and west," and came upon a 
"piece of country remarkably level," and 
afterwards "proceeded along the path which 
lea<ls to Catharine's town;" from this descrip- 
tion of tlie march, of the situation of the va- 
rious localities through which the army pass- 
ed, there will now exist no difficulty in 
delinitig the position of the battle ground. 
In another account of this expedition, which 
may be found on page 785 of Vol. VIII. of 
"Colonial History of New York," -it is tstated 



that Gen. Sullivan's action with the Indians 
took place "at Middletown," and then gives 
the distance of the route traversed by the Ex- 
pedition from 'J'ioga, as follows: "12 miles to 
Chemung, 3 to Middletown, 9 to Newtown, 1» 
to Cathartnetown;" it wdl be remembered 
that the battle occurred at Middletown, which 
was estimatefl to be inne miles below New- 
town, and it is well known that Catharino- 
town, (whicli was located near the present vil- 
lage of Havana,) is only 18 miles from Eimira. 
The fullest and most positive proof as to the 
precise locality of this battle grounil is afford- 
ed in the "Narative" of Major Maxwell, which 
was written out by dictation of that prominent 
officer of the expedition, by Gen. Miller and 
Lieut. Allanson in 1818, and" will-be found in- 
cluded in Vol. VII, (commencing on page 97) 
of "Historical Collections of the Essex Insti- 
tute," and I will in this place only give a 
brief extract from Maxwell's "Narative" which 
has reference to Gen. Sullivan's battle with 
the Indians, thus: "We commenced ranging 
over the s;ime ground as the year before, and 
passed over onto the Susquehanna river, where 
Col. Willet received a letter from Gen. Sulli- 
van, requesting him to send me to him, then 
near Valley Forge, to guide him to the Si.x 
Nations in the Genesee country. I went on 
accordingly and joined Gen. Sullivan at Tio- 
gue Point. We started with the intention of 
going to Queen Catharine's Town on the south 
end of Senecti Lake. We went up the She- 
mung River to a place called Hog Back. Here 
the Indians ambuscaded Gen. S., having felled 
a bre;istwork of pine timber and concealed 
themselves. About ten in the morning the 
Six Nations attacked us. We had a severe 
fight, but beat the Indians an<l pursued them 
through a small Indian village to Queen Cathar- 
ine's Town, and found that deserted by all save 
one." Here we thus have explicit, absolute, 
and unquestionable proof, afforded by one of 
the commanding officers of the expedition, in 
respect to the battle having taken place at 
Hog Back; although, as will be observed, it 
directly conflicts with statements relative to 
locality of tliis battle ground, as given in a 
number of Historical works. I may here 
mention that Mhj. Maxwell was born in Brad- 
ford, Mass., Sept. llth, 1742; in 1757 he en- 
listed in the war against the French and In- 
dians—he went with the heroic party who 
entered the British ships ii:w Boston harbor and 
threw the tea overboard—and was engaged in 
the Revolutionary war from time of the first 
skirmish at Concord on 19th April, '75, to the 
close of Gen. Sullivan's campaign against the 
Indians; in 1800 he removed to State of Ohio, 
and participated, to some extent, in war of 
1812, and he afterward resided at Detroit, and 
died about the year 1830. It is mentioned in 
M.S. papers of Hon. Thos. Maxwell, that, 
"The battle of Chemung between Gen. Sulli- 
van and the Indians was fought some seven or 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CUKMUKG VAIXKY, KTC. 



15 



♦•ight miles below Elmiia, at Hog Back liill. 
Ot)l. Biildwiii who \s'as wounded iu the action 
afterwai(i returned and settled near the l)attie 
ground." I have also been informed by Hon. 
fireen Bennett, who now resides in this coun- 
ty, that his father, Ephriam Bennett, who was 
■*in otHfcr iu the Amerk'au aiiwy in the Kevo- 
luiion, and soon alter the close of war retnor- 
<d from Warwick, Orange Cotnity, N. Y., to 
Wyoming, Penn., — had in 1794 removed from 
I'ennsylvania to the Chemung Vall'cy, and lo- 
<-ated his farm upon the old battle ground of 
Ohemniig at Hog's Back, where he resided un- 
til 1709 — the remains of the fortifications up- 
on the battle field being at Ihis period clistinct- 
ly visible. My informant. Col. Green Bennett, 
was a child at the time his father had lived at 
the place where Gen. Sullivan, fought anil de- 
Jeatcd the British and Indians. 'I'his action was 
popularly known as the "battle of Newtown," 
but the ground where it occurred wa.s situated 
about seven miles below the village of New- 
town; in 1799 the Benn-ett iamily removed to 
Catharine's Valley. 1 have, too, received 
similar inforniation in respect to the battle 
ground of Newtown being at Hogs Back hill, j 
near Chemung or Tioga river, some miles be- 
low Elmira, from several of the early residents 
of this region, who were children of Revolu- 
tionary soldiers engaged in this expedition, 
a.nd had participated in the battle of Chemung 
— as they respectively, Inul freijuently heard 
their parents refer to the battle between Sul- 
livan and the Indians, and the locality where 
it was tought. In a letter from Hon. Cliarles 
1'. Avery, who wits tlw author of a vahiable 
work relating to the history of this section of 
the State, this letter bearing date, "Flint, 
Michigan, June 12th, 18G5," it is mentioned: 
"•Your favor of the 7th inst., is at hand to- 
day. '■' ■"' ~ ■'' The battl'C of Newtown 
between Brant and Sullivan did not take place 
at Elmira. as erroneously stated by Mr. Stone 
in life of Brant, but at least 7 or 8 miles down 
the river, near a house where a Doctor Everett 
lived, and perhaps does now, near Hog l5ack 
Hill so called. Col. Pickering called the In- 
•dians together at Tioga Point, •(Athens,) and 
also at Newtown, Pied-#acket having been 
pn sent at both places, as I huve always un- 
derstood, and there first hanging himself into 
inntice as an Orator. ■■' ■■'- =z- o ^^{y ^Ije 
way, Tioga, (properly Tah-hi-ho-gah,) means 
the point of land where the streams come to- 
gether — poetically, "the ©leeting of the wa- 
iters." ■-■' '' ""• ■^" I have been over most 
of the ground mentioned b.yyou. * '^ '■■' 
Slake my com pi i in on ts to the Hist. Soc. of 
Buffalo. I appreciate and applaud their asso- 
ciated efiovts. The iKiembers may not see 
their reward at once, but it will take the lapse 
•of but a few years 'to bring about a grateful 
•and rich return." 

The views, derived from positive knowledge, 
"upon this point relating to the place where 



the battle between Sullivan and th« Indians 
actuallj' occurred, of such men as Hon. 'I'hos. 
Maxwell. Hon. Greene Bennett, and Judge 
Avery, as well as other early Pioneers of the 
Chemung valley, cannot fail to be conclusive. 
1 have been thus explicit as to the precise lo- 
cality of the battle-tield of Newtown, because 
I have regarded it to be the province alike of 
the Historian, as of the Jurist, to give careful 
and e.\-act investigation to every matter re- 
quireing attention and research, before express- 
ing his conclusions. 

It was upon a beautiful summer morning, 
fragi-ant with baliw and bloom of flowers that 
came wafted with every breeze, that I had 
pass<'d along the picturesque, romantic shores 
of the Cheiiiung uver until I reached thepLice 
where the memoriable battle of Newtown had 
been faught, and my footstejis wandered over 
the field where the tide of combat once rolled: 
I have trod many battle-fields of ancient and 
of modern fame, but as I .slowly passed over 
this ground, by the rapid waters of the Che- 
mung, something of the same feelings •were re • 
called that 1 had known while climbing the 
ascent of Lundy's Lane, near the majestic 
Niagara — the noble, swiftly gliding river upon 
one side, and the sti;ep hill upim the oppo.site 
side of ttee battle-ground of eitlier of these 
fields of military glory, both at Chemung and 
at Lundy's Lane, presented nearly the sameaj)- 
pearanciB. Among these hills which stretch 
away in hazy and indistinct outline upon the 
left or north bank of the river, Butlei's creek 
takes its rise, and flowing through wild ravine 
and picturesque vale, unites its softly gliding 
waters witli the Chemung at a short distance 
from the battlefield, while the muruniring 
waves of this magnifficent stream bre ith no 
tale of the conibat which there had transpired 
so long, ago, upon the listening air. The fairie 
island is slumbering amid the currents of the 
river as softly in its Eden Ireuity as upon the 
'long gone summer day of 1779. Upon close 
observation there m;iy yet be traced some 
marksof the battle,— the ri.sing belt of ground 
stret-ching through the meadow land over 
which the tall, luxuriant grass is now growing, 
along the line where the fortifications had 
once extended from the banks of the river 
until it inter.sected with the ingged hills on 
its western side. A- large ami ancient Cucum- 
ber liee is still standing upon the eastern part 
of the field, it had once sbelteied the com- 
batentswho taught beneath Its ample foliage; 
and the remains of the old Apple tree are yet 
li<ere. Near the spot where it bad grown, Col. 
Baldwin had fell severely wounded in the 
battle of August 29, 1779, and the orchard 
which he had set out after his removal here is 
still .remaining near the battle-ground. Tne 
field 'Was divided by a rail fence, and upon one 
side cattle and sheep were grazing: 
"The situation seems still formed for fame, 
A hundred thousand men might figlit again 



16 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG VALLEY. ETC. 



With ease. But where Isaught for Ilion's walls, 
The quiet sheep feeds, and the tortiose crawls." 

I will return to tb« narative of Gen. Sulli- 
van's cxpedit'on. Upon the dtiv succeedinp: 
the b ittle of Newtown, in an address which 
<jen. Sullivan issued to the army, in conse- 
quence of the neijlect of the Board of War to 
supply the expedition with adequate means of 
transportation, military stores, provisions and 
forage, he wus obliged to propose, in order 
jnore completely to accomplish the important 
objects of the campaign, tliat (he troops should 
accept half lations, referin.i!;, in this address, 
to the reasons which dictated such a measure, 
?ind the patriotic and heroic army unanimously 
<3xpressed Iheir concunmce with this proposi- 
tion. Upon the olst of August, a's previously 
refered to, the armj' commenced its march. 
Crossing the Cayuga branch where it formed 
junction with another stream which fiowed 
from the west, where they destroyed an Indian 
vilaKe, Newtown, (tke present city of Elmira 
IS situated at this place,) the army then 
jtarsued its march until reaching the ■'Town 
of the Indian Queen, Catharine Montour," 
where it arrived September 1st. The army 
readied Kanadasaga, (now Geneva,) the 
Indiiin Castle at the foot of Seneca lake, which 
was iinmediatelo burned, on September 7th. — 
In the progress of the invasion the army ar- 
rived at Canand^ugua, situated near the lake 
bearing the same name, on September 10th, 
and destroyed the town, then proceed to 
Honoye, which was burned. Gen. Sullivan, 
without making any pause, proceeded to the 
a-ich valley of the Genesee river, where the 
jnincipal capitol of the Senec'as, Genesee, was 
located in a, fertile region, whose orchards and 
iields of waving grain., not less than its ham- 
lets and vilages, indicated the civilization of 
aiiany centuries. This large towm was destroy- 
tid. Upon the 15th of September the army 
'liaving accomplished the essential objecti? of 
the expedition, received orders of Gen. Sulli- 
van, to re-cominence its march for Tioga. In 
•consequence of the insufficientsupply of stores. 
Gen. Sullivan being compelled to return with- 
out proceeding to Niagara, and in retracing 
the path of the victoiioiis expedition the army 
reached the valley of Catharine's Creek about 
the 24th of September, and owing to the en- 
tire lailure of forage for horses of tlie cavalry 
force, several hundred horses were obliged to 
be killed, and the place where this was done 
3ias since retained the name of Horseheads. 
'The army arrived at the original rendezvous, 
-at Tioga, upon the 30th of September, and 
the main army, under command of Gen. Sul- 
livan, reached Wilkesbarre on the 7th of 
October, having commenced the invading 
march upon the 31st of the preceeding July, 
1779, and within the intervening period of 
two months and seven days, this army had 
■signally defeated'tbe allied British and Indians 
mtliia their own entjenchmeuts at Chemung-, 



dessolated the country of the hitherto invin- 
cible Iroquois, ami burned over forty of their 
villagef,'eaving but a wreck cf their once piond 
domain. Nevertheless, for the reason that 
Gen. Sullivan, in his address to the army, had 
refered in just terms of censure to the action 
of the Board of War in withholding supplies 
from the expedition, this gallant (general was 
permitted to retire from the service, although 
thesagaciousstatesnian, and infiexable patriot. 
Elbridge Gerey. made an effort in Congress 
to have Gen. Sullivan retained in command, it 
was ineffectual. Gen. Sullivan afterwards was 
elected to Congress, and held various import- 
ant positions in the State of New Hampshire, 
and his decease occurred on the 23d of Jan- 
uary, 1795. 

It is mentioned in the elaborate "History 
of the Indian Tribes, by IT. 11. Schoolcraft, 
(page 310, vol. VT,) in^referenceto the battle of 
Chemung. "This battle decided the results of 
the campaign ; and, as aboriginal history 
proves, it elfectually destroyed the Iroquois 
confederacy." However, during the ensuing 
year bands of Indian warriors continued fre- 
quently to make incursions upon our frontier 
settlements. In allusion to these massacrees 
which still with their recital thrill our veins 
with horror, J. R. Simms, Esq., the talented 
author of an interesting work, "History of 
Schoharie county, etc.," in a communication 
dated "Fort Plain. N. Y., April 28th, 1865," 
thus writes me: "The expedition of Sullivan 
which laid desolate the Indian settlements of 
Western N. Y., was rolled back the next sea- 
son, by the Indians and Tories in fire and 
blood, on the Pioneer white settlements of the 
Schoharie and Mohawk valleys, during which 
season Brant made for himself such a reputa- 
tion, that his very name carried terror to the 
fireside of every ex^xwed settler." But, this 
important episode in the history of the val- 
ley, the expedition of Gen. Sullivan, has al- 
ready k)ng claimed our attention — and I will 
now dismiss the subject. 

CHAPTER V. 



Early Idstory of the region of the Susquehanna ad- 
yoinmg Chemung valley — The aneieut Indian vil- 
lage of Oghyimga. The early settlement of Otve- 
go, S{C. Eemimcences of Binghamton ; the late 
Hon. D. S. Dickinson. Early annals of the re- 
gion lying near head-ivaters of tht Susquehanna — 
Washington's visit in 1783 — Cooperstown—J. 
Fenninwre Cooper, etc., etc. 
Farther along this picturesque valley, or 
rather in adjacent valley of the Susquehanna, 
the famous Indian town, Oghyuaga, (orOuago, 
now Windsor,) is situated in a romantic vale, 
some fotirteen miles from the present town of 
Binghamton. A mission had been established 
atOghynaga, at the instance of Prest. Edwards,- 
and was placed under charge of Rev. Gideon 
Hawley, early as 1754 . This ancie'nt village had 
been the .capital of a powerful Indian natioa 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THF. CIIF.MDira VALLEY, ETC. 



It 



during the lapse of an immemorial period, 
jiiid had htld an important position in the 
early wars of the French and English, nu- 
merous expeditions being fitted and sent out 
upon their hostile errands from this Castle. It 
hud also formed, during several preceeding 
centuries, a resting place in the excursions and 
journe.vs of the Six Nations to the Indian 
trihes inhabiting the banks of the Delaware, 
and other portions of the Southern country; 
while it became the headquarters of Brant in 
the fearful border wars of 1777, '78 and '79, 
where this chief had organized the bands of 
Indian warriors which desolated tlie frontier 
j-ettlements— this renowned Indian castle, in- 
deed, had held an important and prominent 
place during all our Colonial and Revolution- 
ary History. Windsor was settled by a party 
of emigrants from Connecticut in 1785. In 
1786 a settlement was commenced at Owego, 
}iy James McMaster, Wm. McMaster, Amos 
Draper. from Wyoming, and by other emigrants 
from Massachusetts and Connecticut. Near the 
village of Owego, in a picturesque and rural 
spot upon the banks of Owego Creek, Glen 
JIary was situated —this pleasant residence had 
been the home of the distinguished and la- 
mented Poet, N. P. Willis, at the time his 
beautiful "Rural letters" were written, and 
ihe romantic scenery cf this enchanting n^- 
gion had furnished requisite inspiration for 
liis genius, his rare and exquisite descriptive 
powers; — while I write, the melancholy intelli 
gence comes that the immortal Poet has pas- 
sed to his quiet rest, but above his grave 
spring will scatter its fairest and most fragrunt 
flowers, and summer birds there will sing their 
sweetest melodies— forever, with their balm 
and their music lulling the death-slumbers of 
fiiir country's deeply mourned, gifted singer. 
Tioga county was taken ftom Montgorneiy, 
and organized as a separate county, Feb. 1(J, 
1791; or rather, by the organic act, it was 
constituted a half-shire county, and the courts 
were held alternately at Newtown Point, 
(now Elmira,) and at Chenango, (now Bing- 
liainton) in 180G, the half-shire was discon- 
tinued upon organization of Broome county; 
in 1812, the county seat was removed from 
Elmira to Spencer village; in 1822, by act ot 
the Li^gishiture, the haU-shiie was re-establish- 
ed, and the courts were held respectively at 
Elmira and Owego; and. upon erection of 
Clienancro county, in 183G from limits of Tio- 
ga, Elmira became tlie county seat of Che- 
mung county and Owego was designated as 
the county seat of Tioga. 

Binghainton, which is located in one of the 
lichcht and most delightful sections of the 
Susquehanna Valley, still farther toward the 
source of the mr.jestic stream which gives the 
tribute of beauty and verdure to the ron>antic 
shores that liorder its noblt; waters, was set- 
tled it an early datir; its Pioneev, Capt. .Jos- 
eph Leonard, having moved, with his family, 



up the Su.squehanna in a canoe from Wyom- 
ing, and settled herein 1787. Col. Wm. Rose, 
and other emigrants, mostly from New Eng- 
land, also made settlement at this place aliontJ 
the same period. The village is pleasantly lo- 
cated upon the north side of the Susquehanna, 
at its yunetion with the Chenango river — and 
the place was at first designated by name of 
Chenango Point. The Rev. Mr. Howe, of the 
Baptist persuasion, had conducted in 1788 the 
earliest religious exercises within this town. 
Broome county was organized in 1806, ami 
Binghamton became the county scat — the first 
court in the new county was held in May, 180(', 
.John Patterson being the first Judge. Ring-' 
hamton will derive its principal distinction, 
however, in the records of history as having 
been the home of the late Hon. D. S. Dick- . 
inson, who had earned a brilliant, not less 
than well merited pre-eminence as a learned 
and astute lawyer, a wise and patriotic states- 
man. He was deputed to represent the State of 
New York in the U. S. Senate— at the auspi- 
cious time when its councils were ruled by the 
master-mind uf Dallas who had won enduring 
fame as one of the ablest among the distin- 
guished public men in the better days of the 
Republic — and at the memorable period when 
this august body was composed of the most 
eminent state- men and brilliant orators of our 
land, whose matchless eloquence had so often 
achieved enduring triumph in this proud fo- 
rum of debate. Within the American Senate 
at this time, I may only recall the honored 
names of the illustrious Thomas H. Benton, 
who had occupied for a longer period ol years 
than any other public man of our nation a 
place in this august foruui, al^d had heie es- 
tablished pre-eminent fame not only as the 
Princeps Setiatvs in the lesjislative councils of 
the Republic, but also as the ablest and wisest 
statesman of our land— and in regard to him, 
I may well adopt the sentiment of the great 
drama in the words of Mark xiutony applied 
to Brutus: 

"This tnas the nohle.il Roman of ihnn all; 
His life was gentle ; and tlie elements 
So mixed in him, iViat nature mif^htstand up. 
And say to all the world — '■lliis was a man' " ■ 

together with the eminent names of the im- 
perious Webster, of the astute Calhoun, of tl)C 
eloquent Clay, of the learned Renian, of the 
labiiiious Cass, of the accomplished Woodbury, 
and of the brilliant and scholastic Clayton, 
whom I now can name only to deplore ; anil 
here at this epoch, mingling in the debates 
and councils of the Senate, were then tlic able 
and eminent Senator fiom Pennsylvania. 
Hon. Jami'S Buchanan, and who had atterward 
occupied the important positions, respectively, 
of Secretary of State, and of Chief Magistrate 
of the Union, preceeding his retirement to pri- 
vate life— and also the Hon. Rev^vdv Johnson 
of Maryland, who had long hcM distinguisl>ed 
lank among the accomplished Statecinen of 



!8 



niSToRICAI, SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG VALLEr, ETC. 



the better days of the Republic, and still re- 
mains, in tlio pleHitmie of Ma power and fame 
withio the Senate, while he is acknowledged 
fo be, not only aa one of the most learned and 
siKtute Jurists of our country, but as pre-enii- 
aently the ablest, most eloquent and iliustri- 
f^us Statesman now boldinsf a place in the 
i'ublic CoMucils of the Nation. Clay and Cal- 
houn, soon after leaving their places in the 
i^cnate, reposed within their honored graves, 
covered with flowers born of a southern sun, 
;+u<l wakened to bud and to bloom ' by the 
balmy airs of the trophies — and the great or- 
ator and Statesman of New-England, Webster, 
"Broken with the storms of State," 

hrid too, soon passed to rest in the lowly tomb. 
Mr. Dickinson, I believe, had first entered the 
Henate at its session of 1844-45 ; it was indeed 
.' brilliant epoch, resplendent with the first 
glories of the Republic. Great measures. th;it 
■oQuld give the enduriEg impress to the policy 
of our government required adjustment, and 
in their discussion he evinced the giant grasp 
of mind, the massive streugtli of judgment, 
the great argumentative power, which then 
began to show the collosal proportion of his 
intellect, and gave such promise at the com- 
mencement of his Senatorial career, primis 
omnihvs. of its effulgent splendor ; and, in the 
noblest qualities that go to form the judicious 
legislator, or in the expressive words of Cicero, 
the 'bmius Samtoris prudentia \ Mr. Dickinson 
was indeed entitled to rank as the peer of the 
great and most illustrious statesmen of the Re- 
public. 

In the early part of the j'earl860. when the 
larger portion of our public mea treated any 
daiiKer of a disruption of the harmonious re- 
rations of the .several states only as an illusion 
of the fancy, Mr. Dickinson had" regarded with 
most painful apprehension the unhappy politi- 
cal condition of our country; and when treason 
iinally sought to accomplish its criminal de- 
signs through the instrumentality of armed 
force, he was still found, as he had been of 
;Tore, devoting every energy in sustainance of 
the Constitution and tlte Union, always re- 
?ncmhering that vufdantia aelerna liberaiis pre- 
fivmcst. From the personal relations which 
the writer of this sketch had been privileged 
to enjoy for many years with Hon. D. S. Dick- 
inson, I can truly say, that he was- always sin- 
cere and earnest in his adherance to political 
principles, not less than inflexible in their 
niaintainance, vir Jushis, ct tcnaz proponUe; and 
his liff.' WHS marked by profound and unwaver- 
ing patriotism, a refined and elevated sense of 
honor, rare and unswerving integrity, and 
wir-dom which was enriched by the amplu 
stores of experience . 

" A combination and a form indeed 
Where every God did seem to set his se.Tl 
To give tlie world assurance of a man :" 

Bat the summons ca. ne to call him away, at a 



period, indeed, of life when he had gathered 
the amplest public honors ; nor medical skill, 
nor assiduity of friends had power to reyive or 
restore him— had no longer any power to re- 
lume the waneiag fire of life whose brilliancy 
lingering even to its earthly close. Another 
great statesman has thus gone down to the 
dust; the tomb contains all that is Mt of him 
whose name had become known throughout 
the earth. Well may we pause ; he, whose 
counsels had guided as so long, will he with 
us no more forever. In the quietness of tho 
political atmosphere we are startled by the 
death notes, which at intervals are sounded as 
from the trumpet of the Archangel to call an 
entire people to mourning, and the nation is 
overshadowed in gloom as in the darkness of 
the Sun's Eclipse. The luminary whicch had 
shed its benign light in the noon-day heavens, 
while a still brighter effulgence had crowned 
its calm setting with a mild and sweet fare- 
well — allowing a brief yet beautiful repose ere 
the coming of the eternal niglit— has passed 
from our horison, but leaving its lingering. radi- 
ance to show that it has not quenched its orb, 
but shines in the firmament forever ! He be- 
longs to the immortal galaxy— Thompkins. 
Wright, Dickins<-)n — now complete ; which 
takes its place amid the loftier constellations,, 
ante alina ijnes astrorum. and giving its light 
unto the heavens ! He indeed is gone ; but 
his name will live when the millions which 
moved around him are forgotten. The old 
Republics are in ruins ; the grass now growi* 
amid the Areopagus and in the Forum, but 
the names of Demostlienes and Cicero survive, 
though the places where they rest is now un- 
known — and. that name, also, which has been 
repeated around every hearthstone of the nexo 
Republic, too, shall endure when perchance 
the Republic itself has been swept away, and 
the men of future times come and search iu 
vain for the relics of our glory and of our 
grandeur. His honored name, at least, cher- 
ished by the remembrance of personal kind- 
ness, the recollection of long years of uninter- 
rupted friendship, will not be forgotten by 
him who pays this humble and' imperfect tri- 
bute to his illustriotis raemory. 

It is indeed humiliating, when we recall to 
mind the elevated and eminent position which 
had been so brilliantly acquired, and so long 
and amjily sustained by the American Senatti 
and to which, in the palmiest days of its re- 
nown. New York had then deputed such very 
able and pre-eminent statesmen .as Rufus King, 
VanBuren, Wright, Marcy, Dickinson ; and 
then to give, at this time, (Feb. I8(J7.) a 
moment's refiaction upon the very common- 
place character of this deliberative body, as it 
is now constituted, and which particularly 
marks the present Senatorial delegation froiit 
the State of New York, and also the represen- 
tation, with few exceptions, in the popular 
branch of the American Congress. Agjiin vvo 



HISTOBICAL SKETCH OP THE CHEMUNO VALLEY, ETC. 



30 



cross the rotunda, and enter the Senate Cham- 
ber- -'tis at the memorable ses><ion of 1849-'00, 
but a short time previous to the expiration ot 
Mr. Dickinson's Senatorial term ; the eminent 
Vice President rules the stormy debates of this 
Amphictyonic Council of the Republic — the 
shades of mighty Statesmen glide along the 
majestic aisles, and the eloquent voices of the 
jiast echo amid the corridors and colonades ot 
the Senate C?iamber ; in its proud forum, 
where now were assemblea the iliiwstrjous 
Statesmen who so had shaped the destinies of 
the Republic, meeting here for the last time 
on ErtTth— the senior Senator of New York elo- 
■^^uently urged the adoption of the series of 
measures, to which the entire country then 
were looking as the only relief for political and 
•sectional disquietudes, earnestly noping that 
with their success would dawn a more efful- 
gent morn, afairer season in the progress of 
our Republic : 

"The winter of our discontent 
Made glorious summer by this sun af York" 

With the close of this Congress, Mr. Dick- 
inson, with other distinguisiied statesmen 
who were among his compeers in the Seii- 
ute, bade final adieu to this theatre of lofty 
triumph, but since the days of the Conscript 
Fathers none more unobtrusively great have 
sat within the Council Halls of the Republic. 
■{)nce more, alter the lapse of seventeen years, 
for 1 moment, we enter the vestibule, and pass 
along this i mi)osing aisle of the Senate Cham bcr, 
l>ut the Mas^r-Statesmen ot tlie Republic who 
■once guided its Legislative Councils have 
j)assed away forever, the voices which had so 
long charmed the listening Senate are hushed 
and still, and the unrivaled glory which lin- 
gered around this august forum, and clustered 
amid the graceful arches, and lofty galleries 
of the Senate Chamlier, too, h;is vanished like 
Prof.pero's dream. But, the murmur of this 
noble river interupts our musing— and I must 
Hd farewell to this classic ground which had so 
long been the home of the Statesman of the 
Susquehanna. 

The majestic Susquehanna, which in i"{s 
loveliness and grandeur is gliding by, whis- 
pers enchanting tales of the romantic, pictur- 
esque S3enerj' which continues to border its 
murmuiing waters, and which surrounds the 
mountain springs whose crystal fountains first 
give shape to the tributary streams of this 
magnificent river— assd lulled by its music, I 
too am lured by its beauty to ascend still fur- 
ther along tlie lovely, fairy shores of the Sus- 
quehanna until I shall reach its source — 
Around tliis region cluster the rich luistoric as- 
sociations of the past — and around thewylvan 
lake whose tranquil waters feed the beautiful 
Susquehanna, linger tlie proudest reminisoen'*es 
cotinected with the Litera'ture of our land, 
whose lustre will ever remain in its unfading 
4wad immortal glory. 

Already, as I leisurely glide along th« Tra- 



ters of the Susquehanna, I have passed the 
boiindaries of Broo».ie, and enter the limits of 
Chenango County . This County includes elev- 
en of the "Twenty Towns" which the Indians, 
in a Treaty held at Fort Schuyler in 17S8 
with Gov. George Clinton, had ceeded to the 
State, and which was known as "Clinton's Pur- 
chase." Settlements had been made upon the 
Susquehanna river, within the present towns 
of Afton and RaiubridgG, in 1780, and ITStj, 
by emigrants from Vermont rnd Connecticut. 
A Mr. S. Ketch um had made the pioneer set- 
tlement oi Greene in 1712, and in the same 
year a parly of French refugees also located 
within this town, and made purchase of a 
tract amounting to 15. QUO acres lying upon 
Chenango river . 'i'he distinguished diplomist, 
Talkjyrand, visited his countrymen at this 
place in 1794, but owing to some defect in the 
title of lands purchased l)y this early French 
colony, tlie settlement was abandoned in the 
year ot 1796. Among other early settlers in 
Greene, and who remained permanently iu 
this section, were Rev. Nathan Kidlogg, who 
about 1795, organized the earliv st clmrch (Bap- 
tist,) within this county, and continued as its 
pastor for a period of 30 years; and. a Yir. 
B. Loomis, C. Hill, D. Tremain, re-settled in 
East Greene in 179o. The Hon. Geo. A. B. 
Crooker, who in former years has held the 
foremost rank among the most eloquent, per- 
suasive orators, the most brilliant and success- 
ful lawyers in Western New Y(.)rk — and long 
occupied a distinguished position, and in tiie 
Constitutional Convention of 1840— had pas- 
sed his boyhood dajs in this picturesque re- 
gion; and, in re-visiting his early home in the 
year 1850, had written one of his most bean- 
tilul poems in which he recalls the cherished 
associations which clustered around the ro- 
mmtic hills ef "worshiped Greene;" — in this 
exquisite poem, occurs the sweet and plaintive 
allusion to the loved one of life's young hours, 
and which in pathos and beauty of sentiment 
has been rarely excelled: 

"Affections' youns flower. 
That budded to blossom in beauty and pride, 
Has wasted its sweetness, and withered and 

died; — 
Her spirit in dreams to my pillow hath come— 
When far in ilie wild-wooils, to lieclion lue 

home," 
I may be allowed to add in this place that the 
life or personal career of the talented poet 
whose felicitious imagery has been embodied 
in many passages similar to the one above 
quoted, in the-finunctic and impassioned series 
of romances ■conu'cctied witii it — as the writer 
of this sketch has had opportunity to be aware 
— would form a story of far wilder, and more 
intense interest than tJie pen of tiie Novelist 
has ever been permitted to record. But the 
celestial fire that had Iwjrned so early, and so 
brightly, is now growing dim— its light and 
warmth now waning; the sere an<l mildew 
i are now fa^t^atberiiiuj over tlie elcqueist chord*! 



20 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG VALLEY, ETC. 



of liis harp which sooa will slumber in silence 
Ibvevcr. Amid the shadows which linger over 
his beautiful melodies, a dur Ariel even hovers, 
to scatter with noisless wing •briy;ht rays of 
light — and amid the notes of sadness, the 
JSird of Paratlise ever returns to '\v'arble its na- 
tive strains, and to bring fresh lowers from 
Elysian groves of immortal fragrance ami 
lieauty. When once within the mazes of iiis 
poetry, you then seem to be wandering in 
some fairy land— of sunny groves, and bright 
streams, where the moonlight falls in go^'geous 
showers, wheie n)u»ic ever murmurs its soft 
melodies, and the fragrant breath of sunaraer 
Mowers ladcii the balmy Zephyrs — yet. with 
all this beauty tinged by the melancholy hues 
of twilight. Indeed, in his numbers can be 
traced the noblest qualities of the Divine Art; 
a fancy biilliant and glowing, which like the 
sunlight illuminates every object its rays may 
touch, ami transforms it into some image of 
heauty^and 

"Doth suffer a sea change 
Into something ricli and strange." 

l>'it, there is another, and more lasting charm 
that holds you spell-bound; — it is the sympe- 
ttietic, wondrous power of awakning with in- 
lensest emotion the ftelings which lie en- 
hiirined in the inmost recesses of the bosom, 
with the melancholy strains of sadness, as the 
])0et wanders back to revel in the fair dream- 
land of days that come no more, murmurs in 
jnournful sweetness along the chords of his 
harp — which indeed seem like snatches of 
some divine melody, chanted upon Seraph's 
lyre, and which but breathes response to the 
low, deep undertone ever thrilling the human 
iie'art. I might well hope that the many 
lieautiful poenrs written by Mr. Crooker should 
l>e carelully gathered, and published in astyle 
commensurate with their v.orth ; and thus. 
M'hen his harp becomes forever silent, and 
.])erchance the work of more ostentatious 
poets are forgotten and lost, posterity may 
turn with admiration and delight, to his 
soothing, heart-felt melodies. It has been 
remarked, that there is not a stream in the 
land beyond the oct^an hut whose praises have 
lieen sung — and who, indeed, has not heard 
the voice that murmurs from the Arno, from 
Avor, trom Ayre, Irom Liman'., lake and the 
river I'o — and the romantic stream gliding in 
heauty and music amid these quiet hills and 
va!e!» of Greene, had first kindled by their \)o- 
■etic associations, the imagination, and inspired 
t.ie ujuse of the gifted ])oet, who in after years 
hid so eloquently described their loveliness in 
the flowing numbers of sons:. I have thus 
dwelt, at some length, upon the srenius of one 
<'f the most brilliant orators and poets of our 
land. The first poem to which I remember of 
listening, read to me in days of early child- 
}iood, had been written by the poet to Whom I 
have above refened; and af'terward, njy car- 
iicst poetical raadiug, whick included -'Uhilde 



Harold," had been pursued within his Library 
— then little dreaming tfeat I should ever re- 
call the historical reminiscenses of the beau- 
tiful region where his chiid'kood and boyhood 
years had been passed. 

Chenango County was OTgamzed in 1778 — 
and included towns which were taken from 
J-Ierkimer and Tioga. The new County was 
at first formed with half-shires, the Courts be- 
ing held at Hamilton, (now within Madison 
County which had been erected in 1806,) and at 
Oxford. In accordance with Legislative Act 
of March G, 1807, Norwich was 'designated as 
the County Seat of Chenango, and the Conrt- 
House. a wooden structure, was built in 1809, 
in which the Courts held their sessions until 
about 1837, when a new Court-House, con- 
structed of brick, was erected here. Among 
the early County officers, I may name Isaac 
Footc. first Judge, J. Enos and J. Leland, asso- 
ciate Judges, and Wm. Tracy, Sheriil'-who 
held their respective offices from the time ot 
orgaiiizition of the County during several sub- 
sequent years. 

Within Chenango County, at various places, 
had foimerly existed the interesting, mysteri- 
ous monuments reared by that vast, anil pow- 
erful empire that once held dominion of our 
soil. In the town of Oxford, situated upon 
the banks of the Chenango Iliver, there had 
been an ancient enclosure, which occupied a 
small eminence. The shore descended from 
this elevation precipitiously to the stream, 
whilst upon the hill, an embankment, some 
four feet in height, with a trench u))on the 
outside of the elevated mound, extended in 
a semi-circular form, and enclosing in the for- 
tification about three-i'ourths of an acre of 
ground. A pine tree, apparently of three or 
four hundred years in growth, stood m.on this 
ancient work. The Indians had a tradition 
that this fort had been occupied by their an- 
cestors reaching back to the seventh genera- 
tion — but relative to the origin of the fortifi- 
cation, they were entirely unacquainted. The 
remains of an old fortification, which at the 
time of the early French & Indian wars, was 
known as "the castle," are located in the 
town of Norwich. These earthworks had been 
examined, many years ^ince, by DeWitt Clin- 
ton. Within the town ofGieene, some tw« 
miles from the village, and situated near the 
Chenango Kiver, there had formerly existed 
a mound of tlie most interesting character. — 
This Tumila had an elevation of some six 
feet and diameter of about forty feet ; ;;nd up- 
on excavation being made in 1829, a number 
of human skeletons were first disclosed, and 
beneath this layer, were found a deposit of 
human bones which had been burned — pre- 
senting only the chared ostelogical remains, 
and in this respect showing the samo charac- 
teristic feature which marks the mound-peri- 
od of the Mississippi Valley. In this mound 
also were discovered several interesting, and 



mSTOniCAL SKETCH Or TKE -GnEKCKG YALLEY, ITC. 



21 



Tare relics of art ; among them a silver brace- 
Jet, a plate of mica, cut or fashioned in orna- 
mental shape, stone chisels, beside several 
humired arrow-heads, &c. , &c. In the year 
•of 1811, there had been found in Norwich, a 
nearly entire specimen of Indian-pottery ; this 
was a vessel something in the sliape of ajar. 
with its upper portion in an oval or rounded 
form, and with a grove moulded in the vessel 
near its upper rim, and holding, in capacity, 
some three quarts. 'This relic hud been fig- 
ured and described in the "New York Medical 
and Philosophical Register" for 1812. I have 
*hus been able to notice only a, few of the an- 
<;ienfc works, and artistic remains, which the 
Jlound-builders had left in this County — and 
which would show in after tim«s some record 
of their power and their greatness. 



who were all eminent and active patriots iu 
the lievolutionary struggle, returned and made 
a permanent settlement at llarpersficld. The 
County ol Delaware embraces a part of the 
original Hardenburg Patent, which had been 
granted in 1708. and which h.id been princi- 
pally surveyed in the year 1741), by E. VVoos- 
ter. In 17ii8, John Idarper ami his associatc.s, 
bought of the Indians, at "Johnson Hall." 
Montgomery County, a tract of '250,000 acres. 
Tla« larger portion of this County, or the moct 
part of the lands it contained, was settled up- 
on leases ; which is an incongruous element in 
our Republican system, as it is, in fact, an 
unhappy relic of the medieval ages. Thisleu- 
dal system, too, had produced a conflict a few 
years since within the borders of Delaware 
Countv, and several other portions of our 



In pursuing our way still farther along the • State, which may be compared to the wars of 
Susquehanna" Valley, lean del ly only "for a ! the old Parous, who gathering their forces 
short time in recalling someincidentsconnect- j witiiin their moated strongholds, their castles 
<;d with the history ot Delaware County, which I with battlement and turret, fought to main- 
here borders upon the southern side of the! tain the domini.>n over all their bioad lands, 
i.iver. The first town in the County that I j In the years 1844 and 1845 many of the citi- 
reach in ;tscending the Susquehanna, which j zens of Delaware County, whenever the civil 



was organised in 1801 under the name of Sid 
fiey, had been explored at the early period ot 
1772 l>y Rev. Wm. Johnston, who came and 
settled vvith his family upon the present site 
of Sidney Plains in the ensuing year — thus 
commenciisg the first settlement made in the 
Susquehanna Valley within the limits of the 



officers undertook to levy for rent, also assem- 
bled in large numbers, organized into armed 
bands and acting under conimaiid ofan elect- 
ed chief, and who in name &c., assumed the 
character of the Indian-Sachem, for the pur- 
pose ot resisting the enforcement of these writs. 
Thi< contest with alternate success and defeat. 



State of New York. It was at this place, c ntinued for some months, between the civil 



within a brief period before the commence 
ment of the war of the Revolution, that Gen- 
>Ierkiraer held an interview with Thaj-nsiulan- 
egea, (the Mohawk Chief Brant.) 

Tiie remains of an Jndiun Fortification, now 
known as "the Fort-Grounds," which includ- 
ed some three acres, and was surroumled by a 
low parapet of earth, and a valura or ditch, 
are located in this town, near the place where 
the first settlement by civilized man had been 
made witliin the Sus(ir.ehanna Valley. A set- 
tlement was made at llarpersficld, now includ- 
ed in Delaware County, in 1771, hj' Col. John 
Harper. The settlement here was destroyed 
in April. 1780, by a party of Tories and Indians; 
and during this raid, Capt. Ale.vander Harper, 
and several other i)ioneer settlors who were 
with him at the time, were captured ami car- 
ried to Niagara — while three of his associates 
were masacreed at once by the Indians, At 
, Niagara, Capt. Harper met with some icbitives 
who had been taken prisoners in 1778 at Cher- 
ry Valley ; and all remained in captivity un- 
til the triumph of the American cause, and 
restoration of j)eace in 1788, ell'ccted their re 



ofiicers and the organized parties that boldly 
resisted the execution of the writs, denying 
the authority and defying the power of the 
Sheriff ; in the course of this conflict. Depu- 
ty Sherilf Steele was killed in the town of An- 
des ; and the excitement that reigned so in- 
tensely and supremely in Delaware County, 
also largely pervaded other sections of the 
State, and excited an important infiuence at 
that time in shaping the political history of 
New Y^)rk• Delaware Countv, was formed, 
March 10th, 17'.J7. from Ulster and Otsego.— 
Delhi is the County Seat. 'PSie first Court- 
House was built about tlie year 1798, which 
was iilterward destroyed by fire, and another 
Court-Honse was ciecte<l in 1820 ; the fii'St 
('ounty officers were J. PI. Brett, first Judge, 
P. Lamb. Cr. North, and W. Horton. Judges. 
At the early perif)d when a portion of the ter- 
ritory now included in thus County was at- 
tached to Ulster, the State Con venticm of New 
York held its session within the limits of tne 
County as then existing— the Convention Meet- 
ing at Kingston — and hir- in 1775, framed the 
earliest State Constitution of New York, and 



lease, and allowed them to rvtiirn, after this j which continued in force with addition of sev- 



hmg and painful absence, to their hoioes. — 
'J'he early settlement at Harpersfield, however, 
liad been abandoned consequent to the hos- 
tile raids in the border- warfare of the Revolu- 
tion. In 1784, Col. John Harper, with his 
eons William, Ale.\.indcr, and J';se.p!i Jlur.por, 



er.\l amendments, until 1828. This Constitu- 
tion enjbiacefl wise and comprehensive |>rinci- 
ples of Constitutional Law, but it added no 
new feature to our politio-al system, ftnd gave 
no new right to the citizens, but it constifuted 
siiepl y a re-alfirmation of the liburties enjoyt-ti 



-28 



HISTOMCAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG VALLET, ETC. 



tpnor to the American lie vote tion, and which 
iliad previously been asserted in tlie "Great 
■Charter," {Mngna Qiarta,) of 1215— in the 
'■ ■Confirriiatio Chartarum" ofi297 — in the"Statue 
ofTroiiHons" of lo50— in the "Petition of 
llitilit" of 1G27 — in the "Mabeas Corpus Act" ot 
3679 -in the "Bill of Rights" of 1689— of the 
"Body of Liberties" of 1641- in the "Articles 
'of Confederation of the united colonies of New- 
England" of l<')4o— and finally, in the "Dec- 
laration of Independence" of 1776. This place, 
Kingston, being the Capitol ot the State at 
the tinie when !Sir Henry Clinton acquired 
]K)Ssession of the parts in the Hudson High- 
lands, it was marked by the British General 
l(5r destruction ; and accordingly a squadron 
of light frigates, containing some ;5,6UO men, 
was despatched upon this Expedition, and ef- 
fecting a landing at Kingston Point on the 
13th of October, 1777, the troops proceeded at 
once to Kmgston, then containing nearly four 
thousand inhabitants, and wantonly reduced 
the village to ashes. Thi-s, and other raids of 
similar character made in Ulster County, fully 
aroused its citizens in behalf of the cause of 
Indeiiendence. Many instructing episodes in 
the Colonial and llevcjlutionary history of this 
legion, which bordering upu>^ the noble Sus- 
quehanna stretches away nntil it becomes lost 
in the azure h.ize of thedistant Catskill moun- 
taitis, are elaborately traced in the several 
volumes of "Collections of the Ulster Histori- 
■cal Society," and in other liistorical works. 

I have thus given an outli»e of some of the 
.more important events whicb had occurred in 
iMie region bordeiiug upon ihe east bank t)t 
^he Susquehanna, and whicb in fact, as the 
border-warf.ive of the Pievohtiion extended 
throughout all the country whose annals I have 
designed to record, is iuseit.irably interwoven 
with the early history of theChemung Valley. 
'J'hese events, winch had been cHJicted either 
in the region Iving east of the Susquehanna 
river and stretching ;iway towards the waters 
of the Hudson, or among the hills and vtdleys 
that border the west bank of the Susquehan- 
na whose thrilling episodes I now proceed to 
narrate, together with the story of the expe- 
dition whoso conquering path led through the 
'<Jhemung and Seneca lake valleys .in. 1779, all 
belong to a single Act coniiected it«.ith the 
ijreat Drama of the llevoluliouary strug;gle- 
and cannot be separated; or rather, a smgle 
scene — and which cannot be obscured, or ob- 
literated without injuring or destroying the 
whole. I have previously made allusion to the 
interesting reminiscences connected with Oqua- 
go, the ancient capitol of the Mohawk In- 
iiiansyaiid have also traced tlie early aiifflals 
ot otlier pl;K.-es m the Susquehanna Valley 
witlian tide present limits, of Tioga, iKroome 
iin<l Clienango counties. 

Unadilla, which is situated upon the Sus- 
guelianna in the southern partot Otsego coun- 
ty — tiie iJnatiiilu viv-w lorming its weelern 



iioundary — had held an important place in our 
Revolutionary history. Several families had 
located in this town prior to the Revolution, 
these pioneer settlements th«n forming the 
fartherest advances in the westward progress 
of civilization. Among the most cherished 
and hallowed recollections of the writer of 
this sketch are those, whkh wandering back 
to the fairy realm of childhood's reminiscen- 
ces, cling around the name of Unadilla — and 
are associated with the border legends of Ot- 
sego. Most indelibly impressed in memory, 
the writer often recalls to mind those pleasant 
evenings in his earliest childhood when he 
would sit by the blazing fire-side, and listen 
to the wonderous stories which his grandpa- 
rent, who had been among the early settlers 
of Unadilla, related of the hurdy adventures, 
and the daring achievements which character- 
ized the first settlecjent, particularly during 
jieiiod of the border warf.ire with the Indians, 
in the region of Otsego; and the breathless 
interest to which I had then, between the age 
of three and six years, listened to those stir- 
ring legends of the past, has ever held its in- 
fluence, fresh and glowing, and retained its 
impression, upon the deepest and most sacred 
tablets of my memory. Tteis has been, indeed, 
one of the strongest inclinatif)ns which pre- 
vailed in inducing me to wander over this 
rnetnorable ground for the purpose of retracing 
its scenes of historic interest. The narrator of 
these tales of the border, Mr. Willard Cheney, 
had l)een actively engaged in the early French 
and Indian wars, as also in the Revolution, 
and he was conversant with the incidents 
which still throw an absorbing interest around 
the early history of Tryon county. 

I had learned from tlao reminiscences thus 
related to me in early days of childhood, that 
Unadilla had been first settled about the pe- 
riod of the last Erench and Indian war, or 
sor)n after its close, by eeuigrants from Salem, 
(now within the limits of Washington coun- 
ty); some time afterward Gen. Maitin, Mr. 
Beach, &c , made settlement at this place, Jlr. 
S. Crooker, (father of Hon. Geo. A. S. Crock- 
er, previously referred to in this sketch) some 
years subse(iuent to the Revolutionary war 
removed to this town, and built the first grist 
mill here, and in connection with the mill 
constructed a dam across the Susquehanna 
river, which causing much inconvenience to 
the settlers residing in the valley above, they 
rallied in considerale excitement and forcibly 
removed the Aaxw. It was also related, among 
snany other incidents told in respect to pioneer 
history ol the region of the Susquehanna, 
that the earliest settler in Otsego countj', 
soon after he had selected his home in the 
wilderness, and had only just began to clear 
away the primitive forest and to teach the 
virgin soil to yield its fruits, and having failed 
to store sufiicient provisions for the winter 
which provctl lo be of unusual iuelcmeacy, 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG VALI.ET, ETC. 



2^ 



and a great depth of kdow bad filled and com- 
pletely obstructed the path to the nearest set- 
tlements on the Mohawk river, a lingenng 
death by starvation seemed unavoidable, when 
» friendly Indian who had traversed the wastes 
of snow by means of 8now-sh>)eR, providen- 
tially eame to the house of the suffering pion- 
eer, and upon learning his painful situation, 



New York. The historian of the adventures 
of De Soto relates, that as the Spanish con- 
queror was conducting an expedition into the 
interior of America, far nortli of the Floridas, 
they had reacfecd a place, in the reighbnr- 
hood of a beautiful Lake, and this locality 
posessed a very cold climate. This was called 
by the natives Haquechania, which has been 



at once went to the settlement on the Mo- supposed to have same meaninsr, or apply to 
hawk and obtained provisions, which, carry- some place as the Susquehanna, (as these 
in« upcm his shoulders, he returned across the words, spoken in the Indian dialect, would 



drifted snows to the abode of the famishin 
settler, and in this manner repeatedly supplied 
throughout the long and dreary winter the 
family of the Pioneer with provisions— and 
thus this untutored child of nature. 

"Unknown t& fortune and tofanic," 

by these acts of noble-and generous friendship, 
and I may truly add, of Christian heroism, was 
instrumental in preserving the lives of the 
earliest inhabitants in Otsego County. The 
wild legends, which had thrilled my nerves 
■with their recital, connected with the tcrrilile 
Indian raids at Cherry Valley and other ex- 
posed settlements of the border, which were 
instigated and led by Brant, I remember we i 
■were also told in the days of "long ago,"' 
within that little, wood-colored, and vine-em- 
bowered cottage, which stood near the waters 
of the dark and gloomy Conewango, and to my 
childish fancy tliese border-scenes comprised 
about all the history of the world. In return- 
ing to gather reminiscences of Otsego. I feel 
something of the pleasure which tbrills the 
■wanderer's bosoin as his eye again meets the 
long lost, but once familiar and deeply loved 
scenes of his childhood. The principal narator 
of these stiring events, who thus taaght my 
earliest lessons in history. Mr. Willi;ud Che- 
ney, was well aG<:juainted with Gen. Herkimer 
and w-ith Gen. Schviyler, and spoke of both of 
these officers in terais of warmest commenila 
tion and praise. This early resident amid the 
wilds of Otsego, Mr. Williard Cheney, re- 
moved to Chautauqua County in 1816, where 
lie assisted in forming the pioneer settlement 
in the town among whose wildwoods he had 
selected his home in the evening of life- his 
decease occurring in 184-1 ; and I may add. 
that he traced the history of his ancestry in 
this country back to« the landing of the May- 
Jlotrer. Many episodes in his personal history, 
though of strange intcreoS ia themselves, but 
not intei linked in tlie chain of historic events 
of public character which had transpired in 
Otsego, then Tryon County, I shall omit to 
mention— only narrating events of general in- 
terest. 

The idea has been entertained by several 
scholars, and learned historical writers, that 
the renowned Spanish Navigator, De Soto, 
whom it is claimed had made discovery of the 
Floridas in the early part of the sixteentli cen- 
tury, had also mudo; an excursion into Central 



sound very nearly alike) — and that, DeSoto, 
about the year 1580. had actually explored the- 
region of the Susquehanna. This suggestion,, 
liowever, rests upon much too uncertain foun- 
dation, is much too vague, to be admitted as 
an historical fact.- 

In the year 1701, the Unadilla river (or as 
it was then designated, Tienaderha,) was visi- 
ted by Capt. J. Blurkerand Mr. D. Schuyler, 
while these gentlemen were pursuing a jour- 
ney to "Onondat;a" for the purpose of arrang- 
ing, in behalf of the Commissioners at Alba- 
ny, an important negotiation with the five 
Nations ; and the account of their visit to the 
region of the Unadi'ttv, is given in their "Jour- 
nal," and is included, in pages 889, 890, vol. 
IVth, "Colonial History of New York." I 
find no other authentic records relating to the 
region of the Unadilla for a long period subse- 
quently. In Octoner, 1768,. at a Treaty held 
with theSi.x Natioiis, at Fort Stanwis, a tract 
of 100,000 acres o? land, lying between the 
Unadilla river and- Otsego Ijake was i urchased 
of the Indians. This purchase was efitected by 
Coi. Geo. Crogart, and for the extensive tract 
of land he obtained a Patent in the succeeding; 
year 1769, when he akso secured in additiou. 
18,000 acres situated in Cherry Valley. Col. 
Crogan was a native of Ireland. He had emi- 
grated to America, ami first settled at Penns- 
boro' on the Susquehanna river in Pennsyl- 
vania. About the year 1746, he was engaged 
as a trader among the Inilians, and in this ca- 
pacity traversed tlie shores of Lake Erie, now 
included in the State of Ohio ; he was com- 
missioned as Captain in Bradock-'s Expeditioiv 
of 1755, and in the year 1756 lie repaired to 
Sir. W. Johnson, whom he accompanied U> 
Onondaga, and in same year Col. Crogan re- ' 
ceived appointment as Deputy Indian Agent. 
(See "Penn. Archieves," vol. 1,742, "Penn 
Col. Bseoids" V. liJy, "Archieves" 11,689, 
etc., ete. ,) 

At this Treaty, the Indiana liad made the 
propo.sal that the Unadilla river should form 
a portion of the boundary line to be estab- 
lished between the English and the Indians. 
'I'liis line was ratified in th^'lreaty then con- 
cluded, and is marked liy a red line in the 
Map drawn by Guy Johnson, a copy of whicl> 
is included in Villth Vol. of "Colonial Docu- 
i&ents." 

In .June. 1777, Brant, who had during some 
montbf> previous reiiuviaed with a large party 



24 



HISTORICAL RKKTCH OF THK CnEMUNtf VALLEY, ETC. 



<jf Iiwiiiiny :it Oi|iiiie:o, catne to Unadill;v, ;ind 
Kent a int-sHiiffe expretisiiigf his wish to see the 
Rev. Wm. Johrihtori. (who several years be- 
fore had succeeded in establishing a tloiirish- 
ing settlement upon the east side of the Sus- 
quehanna.) and other prominent patriots of 
that section ; and, tipon their arrival, the Mo- 
hawk Chief very cooly informed them that the 
Indians were in need of provisions, and if they 
were not furnislied by consent of the inhabi- 
tants, the Indian party under his comm nO, 
.some 80 warriors, should take th? requisite 
Htnount by force. The early Pioneers of tlie 
Unadilla Country then brought in some pro- 
visions, and Brant, with his party, after re- 
maining two days at this place, returned, tak- 
ing along with them cattle, sheep, provraous, 
&c. The inhabitants of this region, vrho had 
♦^spoused tlie cause of Independence, at once 
removed with their families to places which 
were considered !Uore secure Irom lodian at- 
tacks. In July. Gt'.n. Herkimer, having 
learned of this incursion of Brant and his fol- 
lowers, marched with a force of 380 Militia to 
Unadilla. The American General was met at 
this place by Brant at the head of ISO war- 
riors. At this meeting, lirant recounted the 
grievani.'es of which the Indian.s complained 
against the Americans, and expressed substan- 
tially his determination to act with the adhe- 
rents of the British King in the war which was 
then being waged against the patiiot.s. One 
of Gen. Herkimer's men. (Jol. Cox, then re- 
marked, that if such was the purpose of the 
Iroquois, nothing further could lie ai ranged. 
The willy Moliavvk Chief then addie.S8-ed a tew 
words to his warriors, and immediately they 
raised a loud shout, and ran to their camp, 
■where, seizing their arms, a number of volleys 
were fired, and they then gave the territic In- 
dian War-Whoop, and again repaired to tlie 
place where Brant and the American General 
liad been holding their conference. Gen. 
Herkimer now said to the Indian Chief that 
the Americans h.id not come for the purpose 
of lighting. Brant, v,'ho.-<e objectin producing 
the threatening movement by his followers 
had doubtitj.ss been to iriiimidate the Ameri- 
can party, gave the signal for the Indians to 
be quiet, but assuming a hostile attitude him- 
self, he then demandeil of the American Gen- 
eral acquiescence in several matters, which 
Gen. Herkimer was willing to .allow iqion con- 
dition tluit the Indians should not harbor the 
tories and de-^erters, that sneh person should 
lie surrendered to the Ameiicans. Brant re- 
fused to accede to this proposition, and said 
that he would go to Oswego and join Butler. 
Gen. Herkimer ha(i snflieient force to have 
attacked and completely defeated the party 
niiuer command of Brant, but the American 
General jippeii.rs to havccntertaineil .some hope 
that the Iroquois might be induced, at scmie 
future time, to relinquish their intention of 
joining tlic Biitish in prosecuting this war. — 



This conference at Unadilla, nevertheless, ap- 
pears to be the latest one held with any of the 
tribes of the Iroquois in which the attempt; 
was made to induce the Indians to espouse the 
cause, or to remain on terms of peace with the 
Americans —except the successful effc^rt in the 
Councils of the Oneidas. The fearful contest 
came; the Indians carried their own cruel, re- 
lentless mode of w;irfrre to the- tire-sitie, and' 
to the homes of all the settlers along the bor- 
der ; and, in turn, the proud warriors of the- 
Six Nations were driven from the soil which 
had once been their own, onTv retaining as 
tl)eir inheritance small and remote districts- 
wliere the ancient wildwoods still overshad- 
owed the waters of some raurmnring stream — 
and soon the name or existence of these In- 
dian lleservatious within our State became 
scarcely known. In these retired locations, 
where the Indian yet gathers around the (ires 
kindled in the shade of their native forests, 
the writer of this sketch has sojourned for 
many days while upon a single excursion, and 
there listened to the story of their own event- 
lul history as related by these children of the 
wilderness. The ntrepid Gen. Herkimer, who 
held this conference with Thyendanagca, 
(Brant) at Un.adilla, was soon called to anoth- 
er part of this interesting field of border-strife; 
and here in the lapse of only a (ew days, he 
closed his biilliant not iess than glorious mili- 
tary career, after saving by his bravery and 
skill his own army from destruction, and 
wresting victory from the arms of imminenfe 
defeat, thus gathering the halo of surpassing 
and immortal glory around the latest scene* 
of an eventlnl and patriotic li(e, he tranquilly 
obeyed the summons which called hiin to ful- 
fi 1 the loftier duties of another world. In the- 
last days of July, 1777, at the time Burgoyne 
was miking an invasion, with his large and 
well appointed army, into our country fron% 
the Norm, St. Leger in command of a torce of 
regulars, and accompanied by a park of artil- 
lery, together with liands of the Iroijnois un- 
der the leadership of Brant, including some 
1700 men in all, also left Oswego, and with 
thisformidablearray wasra|)id y marching from 
the west to invade the Valley of the Moiiawk. 
Tlie allied British, and Indian force arrived at 
Fort Stanwix, (or Scbuvler) on tlie 3d of Au- 
gust, and invested this fortress, then in a ru- 
inous condition, and deieiuled only by 700' 
troops, poorly supplied witii ammunition, but 
ccmmanded liy the brave and skillful veteran 
officer. Col. Gansevoort, who had heroically 
determined, with the fullest concu:rence of his 
men, to defend the Fort at all hazurds, and to 
the last extremity. General Herkimer, upon 
approach of tliis Jiostile army which threat- 
ened to desolate that entire region with tire, 
and with sword, at once issued a patriotic 
proclauiation summoning the militia nf the 
country to arms, and three regiments of the 
hardy yeomanry nobly respondtng to this call. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUXG VALLEY, ETC. 



25 



promptiy rallied around Geii. Herkimer. J'he 
Biet(« of Fort Schuyler luid only progressed 
some three days, when Gen. Herkimer com- 
mencedhis march to reli»ive the brave defend- 
ers of this important pusition ; and he had 
reached the Oriskany Valley on the morning 
of the (ith of August, and after trussing the 
creek; the path led through low grounds, 
bordered on either side by a dense and heavy 
forest, and the van-gnard of our army had 
scarcely began to ascend the elevated plateau 
beyond this pass, entirely unsuspicious of 
danger, when a terrific fire was rolled upon 
the advancing columns from every side, where 
amid the heavy growth of tiees and siirubbery 
the Indians and Tories lay in ambush ; and 
tiien giving the terrible war-whoop the Iro- 
quois rushed with uplifted tomahawks upon 
the ranks of our array, which for a lirae were 
broken and paralyzed with dismay, while our 
men were falling arouml. Gen. lleikiuier was 
severely wounded, and fell from his horse, in 
the early part of the action, but he had the 
saddle taken from the horse and placed in the 
midst ol tne battle-field, and supporting him- 
self in it then issued his orders with calmness, 
lirmneas and skill, and his men so(jn rallied to 
the fearful encounter, springing like tigers to 
the (ieadly contest — the partriuts lighting 
hand to hand with the savages anl tories, fre- 
cjuently both falling together, grapling in fa- 
tal embrace, with the knifes of each sheathed 
in the other's bosom, while Brant rangetl like 
some evil Demon over that field, encouraging 
his followers in the desperate struggle. In this 
manner the battle continued some forty-five 
minutes — in the meanwhile Gen. iierkimer 
evinced a composure which remained undis- 
turbed in the thickest ol the light, as in, in- 
stance, he took his tobacco- l)ox from his 
pocket, and striking a tinder lit his pipe, and 
calmly continued to smoke, while he directed 
the movements of our men, at the same time 
the bullets and tomahawks of the enemy were 
flying around and near him in every direction' 
As soon as-the skillful orders of the intrepid 
Herkimer could be fully carried into effect, 
the American A. my began to regain the 
ground lost in the first surprise, our soldiers 
commenced forming and figliting in small cir- 
cles. The savages had been accustomed upi.n 
seeing a soldier discharge his gun totlien rush 
forvvar<l and tomahawk him, but this In<lian 
artilice was turned to our own advaiit^ige on 
t/i('s held, liy having iu'o of our patriut-soMiers 
placed behind a tree, and when one had tired, 
the approaching savage was killed by the bul- 
Ijt sent with unci ring aim of the other pa- 
triot. The allied British anl Indians, under 
lead of Butler and Br mt, were fast losing thi- 
fiercely contested field, and in turn wavered 
before the incesant hre, and the duing move- 
ments ot the American Militia, who, encour- 
aged and reassured by the unequ iled firm- 
ness and heroism of Geu. Herkimer, now 



fought with the determined bravery of vete- 
rans, and resulting from the able and effective 
strategical movements directed by the Amer- 
ican General, and the promptitude and cour- 
age with which these skillful orders were exe- 
cuted by our troops, the ranks of the enemy, 
now driven from cover, were giving away, 
when another iletachment of Tories arrived to 
reenforce the British party, and the deadly 
struggle was again commenced with increased 
vigor. The opposing comb.itants sprang at 
each other with rage and relentless tury, and 
the entire battle field appeared like some 
scene in the fabled realms of Hades; bayonets 
were crossed in the simultaneous charge of the 
contending parties, they met and fought with 
bayonet thrust, and with clubed-musket strik- 
ing down their antagonist in the death en- 
counter, whilst the spear, the tomahawlt and 
the scalping-knife nil were used whenever 
they could drink the blood of our patriot sol- 
diers throughout all that battlefield. A diver- 
sion was now made which brought this despe- 
rate, doubtful contest at once to a favorable 
termination — achieving success much sooner 
than it could otherwise have been accom- 
plished. G-en Herkimer had sent a scout to 
the American garrison at Fort Schuyler with 
intelligence of his critical position— reverbera- 
tions of musketry during the battle had too 
been heard at the Fort— and Col Willet, a 
gallant and efficient officer, immediately vol- 
unteered, accompanied by 250 men, to make a 
sortie to relieve the brave army which had 
thus encountered the common enemy while 
marching to the aid of the garrison who had 
continued to defer. 1 the fort with unyielding 
fortitude. Col. Willet reaching the field of 
contest made an impetuousi- attack upon tho 
Iroquois. The enemy, now assailed by the uni- 
ted American force, wore compelled to yield 
the ground, and Brant gave the despliiring 
signal of retreat, "Onah ! -'Onah 1" Thus ter- 
minated the most severely contested battle, 
the most desperate and bloo«ly contest in pro-' 
portion to the numbers engaged in the com- 
bat, of any which occurred throughout the 
Revolution. The struggle continued for the 
space of six hours ; the Iroquois left a hun- 
dred fallen warriors, including in the number 
several Chiefs of the Senecas, upon the field 
of battle ; the Americans remained the full 
and undisturbed masters of the field. Govern- 
eur Morris, Esq , in an able address delivered 
liefore the "New York Hi.-torical Society" re- 
marked instances of individual heroisn^ that 
had been shown during the progress of the 
battle which would tiave added a halo to the 
proudest pages of the Iliad. I may add. that 
incidents occurred in this combat — ,as the un- 
paralelled heroism of the commanding Gene- 
pal — which would have reflected honor upon 
the most glorious period in Grecian or in Ro- 
man history. Never had an army been led 
into an ambuscade more dangerous or com- 



26 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNO VALLEY, ETC. 



plote — never had a surprise thrown an army 
into greater dismay and conlusion, and it was 
only through the intrepid firmness, the brave- 
ry, and the strategical abilit) that Gen. Herk- 
imer, although 80 painfully wounded, brought 
to the contest in this fearful emergency, that 
instead of meeting with defeat, onr arms here 
achieved a real and substantial victory. We 
cannot indeed, properly estimate the import- 
aoce which this triumph sustained in deciding 
the great conflict of the Kevo'ution, or how 
much it had contributed to our final .success. 
It will be remembered, that Gen. Burgoyne 
was then marching with a largearniy through 
our land, and which was designed to co-ope- 
rate with the allied British and Indian force 
that had been sent to sweep with unspairi ig 
power the Mohawk Valley, and the repulse 
and discomporture which they so unexpectedly 
sustained in the battle of Oiiskany, togtther 
with the failure to overthrow or compel tho 
capulation of Fort Schuyler, were the liist re- 
Terses that the invading British armies harl 
encountered. The bravery and endurance that 
the patriot American soldiery displayed at 
Oriskany and at Fort Schuyler every wheie 
arroused their countrymen from despcmdency, 
and inspired them with the nobliest t-mula- 
tion ; the substantial victories acquired at 
Oriskany and Fort Schuyler were the tii-st that 
greeted the American cause in resisting the 
powerful and alarnsing invasion o( 1777, and 
became the pressage to the brilliant stMJes of 
triumphs which culminated in the eiil'ulgent 
glory that ere long had gathered around the 
immortal field of Saratoga. The sei^e of Fort 
Stanwix, (or Schuyler) was abandoned on the 
22d of August. I have dwelt at some length 
en the history of Gen. Herkimer's march, in 
command of the Regiments of Tryon County 
Militia, for the purpose of relieving Fort 
Schuyler, and in regard to the battle ot Oiis- 
dany, because these movements were msule 
for the defense of the region bordering along 
the Susquehanna, and the men coin))osing the 
patriot army enga^jed in the battle weie prin- 
cipally residents of the region, now embraced 
in Delaware, Ulster and Otsego Counties, 
whose annals it has been my purpose to trace 
— and all thisretr:ion. in tlie number of killed 
and wounded officers and men which were 
sacrificed to the cause oflilierty in these nie- 
moriahle combats, beinjr largely repieser\ted. 

General Herkimer— after iie had thus met 
and defeated Brant, with his allies, at Oriska- 
ny, and remained undisputed master of the 
battle field — was home upon a litter to kis 
own rAidence. (a large brick mansion, erected 
in 1764, and situated near the present village 
of Little Fali.^;* but tlie wouml received in 
the action upon the Gth. did not give indica- 
tion of recovery, and nine d.iys subsequent to 
the battle an onputation of the wouiide'' llmli 
was per owned, but the RurgiGal o; era ion 
had been so unsciUful that it caused a pioiuse 



flow of blojd, and which the surgeons did not 
succeed in fully stanching. Gen. Herkimer 
now became aware that the hour which should 
be to him "the last on earth" had come, but 
he continued to repose upon his bed, calm and 
cheerful, and conversing with bi,!> friends and 
family in his usual pleasant maaner, and with 
serene conxposure ; and then calling for the 
Bible, the inspired andi sacred word of God, 
the dying bero and patriot read a chapter in 
that blessed and only truly infallible volume 
ever given to mankind for their instructioa 
and happiness— and then, looking with peni- 
tence to the S.vvioii for the forgiveness and 
remission of his sins, this christian bero calm- 
ly fell asleep in the arms of detith — to awake. 
as we will trust, amid that blessed num- 
ber, the redeemed of earth, who shall enter 
upon that higlier Life, where the spirit will 
forever continue to expand in the communion 
it will then hold \yith the all-pervading and 
supreme l>i5AtJTT of the Better-Land. In hi.s 
life, and. in the triumph of his death, we are 
afforded another eminent example of tlie pow- 
er of the Christian Religion to impress and to iur 
spire the heart of mim with the principles o6 
goodness and moral-truth, to awaken its de- 
votion and entire consecration to holiiufss, 
and to give triumphant composnrein the liour 
of the soul's departure fromi earth; adding 
another to the list of truly great men who 
have hurality searched the Gospel of Jesus, 
and who devoutly relying, with sincere faith, 
upon Divijae Grace, have found sustenance and' 
strength to accept the pure and holy precepts, 
of the Scriptures as the only guide of life, and 
have too found hope and consolation in the 
piomiscs of our Divine Saviour;. and as the il- 
lusions of the world were t ding away, have 
calmly looked beyond the grave in blissful 
anticipation, of ihat glorious immortality 
which the huiiilile believer, the pure in heart, 
will there receive throi gh tlie i.li-atloiieing 
merit ot Divii>e Redemption. 

Gen, Herkimer hid died upon. the evening 
of August 166fa. 1177, at the age of about six- 
ty five years. His lemains were interred in, 
the family bnrial-ground, which occupies a 
knoll a few rods distant from, the mansion. — 
The Continental Congress, soon after decease- 
oi Gen. Herkimer, had passed a resolution ex- 
pressing in terms of grateful admiriition their 
appreciation of his eminent sain'ices to our 
country, and authorizing a Monument to be 
erecteil over his grave; but this resolution has. 
never lieen carried into effect. Until the year 
of 1847 the stranger might have searched in 
viin for the resting place of this- patriotic and' 
gallant soldier — the heroic and lamented mar- 
tyr to the cause of American Independence. — ■ 
A plain marble stone, simply inscribed with 
the name of the brave soldier, has since beeni 
erected over the consecrated spot where his. 
grave had been made ; although the place 
where the remains of this noble and erainen 4 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUXG VALLEY, t-'" 



St 



man repose nas been permitted to pass into 
neglect, secluded and almost unknown. The 
Legislature of the State of New York would 
only discharge a debt which has long been 
justly due to the illustrious services of Gen. 
Herkimer — who had laid down his life in de- 
fense of the State — by rearing above his grave 
un enduring obelisk, and thus in marble and 
in bronze, perpetuate to the latest* times the 
record of his patriotism, of his heroism, and of 
his greatness — ''exUtictus uniabitur idem;" and if 
our State again should be mvaded by a foreign 
foe, or be assailed by treason, and disaster and 
peril come, thtn would the sculptured form of 
the illustrious patriot and hero descend from 
the' pedestal wh«re it had been placed by a 
grateful posterity, to rally and to lead in the 
paths of victory ! 

The remains of an ancient Indian fortifica- 
tion had once existed iu the town of Unadilla, 
within the low grouads near the Unadilla riv- 
■cv; but, for a number of years, all traces of 
this extensive earthwork have been oblitera- 
ted, every vestageof it disappearing from view. 

A settlement had been made on the Susque- 
hanna river, in the present town of Milford, 
•whicli was formed from Unadilla in 1796, by a 
Mr. Carr about the year of 1770, but in conse- 
'<iuence of Indian hostilities that was unceas- 
ingly waged aganist the frontier settlers dur- 
ing the Revolution, any material effort to 
maintain or make permanKit addition to this 
early settlement vvas^»l)andoned until after the 
<:lose of the war. In 1783, a Mr. Cully and 
Mr. Mulford settled wiljiin this town, and in 
the succeeding year a Mr. Ford, and two fam- 
ilies by the name of Beals, all from Massachu- 
jsetts, also came and made settlement near the 
present village of Milfoi'd. 

In a conference held by Sachems of the On- 
ondagas and Cayugas Indians with the Magis- 
trate of Albany, in 1G83, the (joiefs gave a 
flescription of the Susquehanna riyer. and also 
stateil that Commissioners of Gov. Penn had 
propo.sed to raaifce purchase of'tjjat country — 
but, the Sachems mentioned 'that they luxd 
previously given this territory tiaCorlaer, (the 
•Gov. Gen'l.) and they now wisbnfid to confirm 
the grant to Corlaer, or his representatives.- - 
This paper making the grant, hnd signed by 
■the Sachems of the Cayugas and' Onondagas, 
bears date '"2(3 -Sept. 1683." ifta conference 
ibeld between Sir. W. Johnson .«nd the Sach- 
.«ms of the six nations and th« Delawares, at 
•Johnson Hall, and which continued from the 
29th ot April to the 22nd of May, 1765, Sir. 
W. Johnson attempted to spqure farther, or 
more definite cessions of lands 'on the Susque- 
hatma— but was in a great measure unsucess- 
fal. Tiie oliject of Sir. \V. Johnson, in secur- 
ing a favorable boundary bet'ween the English 
and Indians, however, was tujly attained in 
the Treaty held with the six nations, etc., at 
!Fort Stanwix, in 1768, and',whicL has l)een 
ajreviously refered to in thii:iketoh. 



A settlement had been formed near the head 
waters of the eastern branch of the Susquehan- 
na at an early perfod. In the year of 1738, a 
Patent had been granted by the Lieut. Gov- 
ernor of New York, with consent of the Coun- 
cil, to John Lindesay, T. Roseboom, L. Gan- 
sevort, and S. Van Shaick, for a tract of 8000 
acres of land mostly situated in a wild, pictur- 
esque valley, which was aftei-ward named, on 
accoi/it of the wild cherry trees which were 
growing there in great Insurance, Cherry Val- 
lej'. This rural valley, in its entire extent, is 
about a mile in width and sixteen miles in 
length; the creek which rises in thg uppec 
portion of the valley, and flows along its de- 
lightful meanderings, forms the head-waters 
of the majestic Susquehanna ; while upon the 
opposite side of the ridge, or elevated lands- 
bordering this valley upon the north and th« 
east, the tributary streams of the Mohawk 
take their rise. From this elevated ridge of 
land, wljose outline here and there is graceful- 
ly broken by romantic glen and rural glade, a 
lovely and beautiful view stretches away bo- 
fore our delighted gaae neaily a hundred 
miles in extent, embracing the wide expanse 
of the Mohawk Valley, while far to the north 
east are seen the dim and hazy outlines of thy 
Green Mountains, as their loftiest elevations 
seem to blen(i with the distant horizon; whilw 
the highlands bordering this valley upon the 
east constitutes the first range in the wild, and 
romantic chain of the Catskill Mountains, 
which in their unequaled grandeur and sub- 
limity, extend from this point many miles in 
a south-east direction, until the shadows re 
fleeted from these majestic ranges give a mor« 
georgeons beauty to the twilight which en- 
wraps with its loveliness the waters of the ira ■ 
perial Hudson; and only a few miles distant, 
just beyond the hills which guard the entrance 
of the valley upon the west, slumber the beau- 
tiful Schuyler and Otsego Lakes— fairy sheets of 
water, which with their wild surrounding see 
nery, seem indeed as if they had been brought 
from Eden land, and placed here, by soma 
God of olden mythe. In the early part of th» 
succeeding year, 1739, Mr. Lindesay, having 
obtained full title to this tract of land from 
the other patentees, procured its survey into 
lots, and in the course of the summer removed 
with his family from New York, and settled 
amid the wildwoods of the new. and romantit* 
country which he had selected for his future 
home. Mr. Lindesay orignally came from 
Scotland, and was a gentleman of some die 
tinction and fortune. While in New York ha 
had met with the Rev. Samuel Dunlap, and 
induced that gentleman to visit his patent, 
and being much pleased with it, he came to 
the conclusion also to make his residence here. 
In 1741, David Ramsey, William Campbell, 
and a number other persons, with their fami 
lies, removed from Londonderry, N. H., and 
purchased farms within the new settlement at 



,^0 



HISTORTCAt SKt5TCH OF THE CHEMUKG VALLEY, ETC. 



M- WIS letnrninp;, with her other children,. on 
the llith, under escort of the party of Anieri- 
cins from the Fort, she saw this daughter 
whirh h:ii1 been separated from her on the day 
previous in a field near by. 'J'lie chikl, wheri 
slu; saw the soKliers belontring to the party, 
and who were wearing; blankets around their 
shoulders, supposed them to be Indians, and 
the aicain fled to tlie forest— but was rapiiUy 
pursued liy several soldiers of the party, and 
■was overtaken and broiigiifc back, and restored 
to the joyous embrace ot her mothej- and the 
loved ones of tiie family. The Indians cap- 
tured, and retained as prisoners at the time, 
between thirty and forty of the inhabitants ol 
■Cherry Valley; an uncertain fate awaited these 
■captives — throui^h the nitiht, which was 
stormy and dark, after the sava^^es commenced 
tlieir return, these prisoneis, rainy of whom 
were almost entirely destitute of a,ppavel, were 
gatiiered around the tires which the Indians 
had kindled in the midst of the wildwoods 
where their camp was made, as ilhe bril- 
Uant liglit of the flames were blended in fairy 
like, tautustic way with the mysterious, ghjomy 
ishadows of the forest, while the bands of rude 
.Indian warriors were formed into more distant 
■groups — ^the v.diole presenting a scene of ro- 
ituiintic, wield interest, whose gloomy, but ar- 
tistic associations can not be called into exist- 
suroe by any effort of the-iuaagination, but only 
recalie'i by ^ira whose laemory is conversant 
■wiih similar encampnaents of the Indian with- 
in our wiiiJwoods. The prisoners did not, 
could not sleep through that gloomy night. 
-On the morning of tlie second day after their 
capture, an Indian Council was held, and it 
was then determined to send back the Lirger 
j)ortion of the women and children who harl 
been taken prisoners. The Indians kept, how- 
ever, Mrs. Campbell, and also a Mrs. Moore, 
together with tlieir cliildren, as captives; and 
they at once passed down the Busquehanna, 
then along the Tioga river, thence across to 
the head of Keneca Lake, and along the east 
shore of this lake to K madaseage. (an Indian 
■Castle a few miles from the present town of 
Geneva.) Mrs. Campbell, and her children, 
(the mother of Mrs. Campbell, the aged Mrs. 
Cameron, who was an incumbrance in travel- 
ing to the Indians, was killed by a savage 
with a blow of his tomakawk,) were tak«n by 
the Indians into western New York, and there 
kept as prisoners by one of the Tribes for a 
number of months— although the members of 
tlie family during this time were separated 
tiiwin each other— in the ensuing season, 17- 
79, Mrs. Campbell was taken by her cap- 
ton* to Niagara, when she was restored to her 
{Children, with the exception of one son, James 
S. Campbell. In June 1780, Mrs. Campbell 
was sent to Montreal— here she found her mis- 
sing iion, who had been kept by the Canyhna- 
gas, a branch of the Mohawk tribe. This boy 
swa^ cow ijcvon yearfi .old— iind during his cap- 



tivity among the Indians he had entirely for- 
gotten the English language, and in the mean- 
wliiie had learned tiie language of the JIo- 
hawks. and in this dialect expressed his hap- 
piness iu again meeting his mother, from 
whom he had been separated since they were 
taken prisoners by the Indians at Cher- 
ry Valley. Negotiations for some time had 
been pending to effect an exchange of prison- 
ers -fl»e American authoiities to release seve- 
ral prisoners of distinction upon condition that 
Mrs. Campbell, etc., should be given up. or 
returned — and, in accordance with this ar- 
rangement, Mrs Campbell, and other pris- 
oners, were gent to Crown, Point, and in a 
short time arrived safely at Albany. Here 
Mrs. Campbell was joined by her husband. 
Col S. Campbell, after an absence of two years 
— and the whole family were reunited- They 
did not return, however to Cherry Valley, un- 
til the spring of 1784; they arrived at the 
once delightful, and still jiictuiesque valley 
which had long been their home, only to find 
the ruins ot their former prosperity, and the 
m.-irks yet remaining of the devastation which 
had swept this lovely region iu the autumn 
days of 1778. Mrs. Campbell had lived to 
1 each the age of . ninety three years— her de- 
cease occurring in 1836. She w is the last sur- 
vivor among the women of the Revolution, 
residing in the section near the head waters 
of the Susquehanna. The son who had so 
long been separated from Mrs. Cainjiliell, dur- 
ing the painful Indian captivity and had been 
restored to her at Montreal, has since been 
very /avorabfy known thrtnighout our land as 
tjie Hon. James S. Campbell; and he has al- 
ready been briefly referred to in a previous 
chapter of this sketch. 

Col. Campbell returned, with his family, to. 
Cherry Vailey in the spring of 178-4, and to- 
ward the close oi' summer he constructed a 
lug-house on his farm, as a place of residence. 
8oon alter he had moved into the log dwell- 
ing — for. on his first return to the valley he 
had hastily put up a rude cabin in which the 
family lived until the more substantial log 
building was erected — he received information 
that Gen. Wa.shington designed, and would 
ere long, make a journey through Cherry Val- 
ley, &c. Col. Campl>ell received the visit of 
the illustrious Washington, who was accomp- 
anied by Governor G«orge Clinton, Gen. Hand, 
etc, within the log house which he had re- 
cently built; and the distinguished guests of 
this worthy family were here entertained as 
well, and with far more generous and cordial 
feeling, than they would have been in any 
palace amid the conrts of Europe. Gov. Clin- 
ton sent for a Mr. Robert Shankland. who was 
a resident of the vicinity, and had been dis- 
tinguished in the times of the Revolution as 
one of the most earnest and daring patriots 
along the frontier; and the bold borderer soon 
came, and joined in the pleasant diversions of 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUKG VALLEY, ETC. 



31 



the party. When Cherry Valley was attacked 
by tlie Indians, and destroyed, Mr. Shank- 
land's house, which was situiit .1 in a remnie 
part of the settlement, escaped the devastation 
that awaited all the buildings within the vil- 
lage; Mr. Hhankland fled, with Ins trtiniiy to 
the Mohawk Valley, but returned in the en- 
ensuing year with a son, Thomas Shankland, 
then fourteen years of age. to his lormer home. 
Soon after he had resumed residence in his 
house, the Indians made an attack upon it. 
but he bravely and successtully defendwl this 
teniporarj' fortress against the assault of the 
savages. The Indians then brought combusti- 
ble materials and placed them aboutthe liouse, 
and then applied tire, the building was soon 
completely enveloped in flames — in the mean- 
whik^ liis son had jumped out of a window 
and fled toward the woods, but was captured 
by the Indians who surrounded the crumliling 
domicil upon every side. Mr. SnanUland ef- 
fected a successful escape. At this time, dur- 
ing the visit made by Gen. Washington, the 
patriotic and fearless borderer was requested 
to give a narativeof his exploits while engaged 
in these partizan conflicts— and which he ac- 
cordingly done— contributing by his narative 
much to the enjoyment of the party. During 
this visit of Gen. Washington, a gun to which 
attached much interest in connection with 
I'emiidcences of the Revolutionary struggle, 
was e.\hibited to the party, This gun belonged 
to Mr. Joseph Mayall, a patriot residing at 
Laurens, (now included as one of the towns of 
Oisego County.) Mr. Mayall had once, while 
returning from a hunting excursion, met 
with a party ot three men whom he undertook 
at their request, to p lot across the Susque- 
hanna river, when^ taking advantage of his 
sitiuition while thus engaged in guiding the 
boat over the stream, they took possession of 
his gun, and removed the lock from it, then 
informed him that he must go to Canada, as 
their piisoner. The patriot remonstrated, but 
without avail — and embracing a fayoral)le op- 
portunity, he seized his guri, with which he 
struck and killed one of the party, then dis- 
charged his piece and wounded another of the 
enemy, and maile his escape from the other 
loyalist. This gun had been kept as a me- 
mento of this conflict; it had been much shat- 
tered in the encoiintre - and it was now viewed 
by Gen. Wasui.ngton and his compuiions in 
this journey, with interest. While Gen. 
Washington, and his party were staying here, 
Guv. Clinton incidentally enquired of Mrs. 
Campbell in regard to the number of her child- 
ren, and upon informing him how many she 
liad, tlie Governor added in reply — "they will 
m.;ke tine soldiers in time." and in answer to 
this remark, Mrs. Campbell said that "she 
hoped her country would never need their ser- 
vices"— when Gen. Washington m:ide the 
concluding remark, "i hope so too. Madam, for^ 
I have seeii enough of ivar." These incidents 



connected with Gen. Washington's vi.-iit, m.iv 
be deemed of trivial importance, by m.any pi;r- 
sons; nevertheless, every American bosniii 
which glows with the warmth of patriotism, 
and throbs with emoti(jns of gratitude as h» 
recalls the gl rious an<l heioic deeds of the il- 
lustrious Ciiiet of the Revolution, will dwell 
with pleasure upon every reminisence which 
can be gathered in regard to Washington, and 
especiaJly every one connected with the. visit 
which the immortal Hero and Sage, whose il- 
lustrious n:ime will continue through all time 
as the most lionored representative of Ameri- 
can greatness, had made to our own region of 
country. And, this scene which transpired so 
long ago within this humble log-dwelling, the 
words wliich were here spokvn, and the inci- 
«lents which liere took place, sitibrds us a 
glimpse, through the vista of long intervening 
years, of tlic actual life of the men wlio with- 
in a brief period afterward laid the foundation 
of our nation^il Government — and ngain reveals 
to us the nu/jedic presence (/Washington : 
"For thought on that fine bi-bw is living still, — 
Such thouglit, as, looking far oftinto time, 
(lasting by fear, stood up in strength sublime. 
When odds in war shook vale and shore and 

hill- 
Such strength as then posesscd thee, "when was 
Uid 
■ clee 



Ourcleep foundation,— when the fabric shook 

Witli the wrathful surge which high against it 
broke. 

When at thy voice the blind, wild sea was 
stayed. 

'Tis like thee: Such repose thy living form 

Wrapped round, Ihou h some chained pas- 
sion, brealving forth. 

At times swept o'er thee like the fierce, dread 
north 

Yet calmer, nobler, cara'st thou from th© 
storm." Dana. 

Gen. Washington, and the accompaning party, 
then proceeded to visit the C)tscgo L d^e. 

The Campbell family — the deceudents of 
Col. Samuel Campbell whose personal history 
fills such an interesting episode in the early 
annals of Tryon County — still reside at Cherry 
Valley. From tln^carliesc settlement of the 
region lying near the head waters o-f the Sus- 
quehanna, it may be justly reinarked, the 
members of this w(jrthy family, in the success- 
ive generations which come and then pas^ 
away, have alwaj's e.xcercised a commanding 
public influence, and have always held in tho 
relations alike of social and public life an en- 
viable and elistinguishcd position . The Hon. 
William W. Campbell — who is a son of Hon. 
.James S. Campbell of lievolutionnry fame — I 
need scarcel)' say is very wildely known and 
esteemed tor his marked integrity and varied 
talents, as he is indeed justly distinguished as 
r)ne of the ablest men not only of the region 
ot the Susquehanna, but also of the State of 
New York. Mr. Campbell had acquired a well 
^merited reputation as a lawyer of solid talents, 
possessing very great forensic acqinrements, 
not less than extensive legal knowledge. And, 
in the discharge of in:portant Judicial duties 



S2 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMDVG VALI.KY, ETC. 



— in I be piMtoiinance of the arduous labors 
cMimfctcd with his tcim as Justice of the Court 
<'t Ap|)eiils ot tlic State of New Yorli, Judi^e 
CuupliL-ll hud evinced rare Hliility and integ- 
1 ity, and fully fst.tlili.shed liis fame as one of 
the soundest and most eminent Jurists of our 
Siite. Mr. (,'ampliell had shown — previous to 
I he commeneeinent of his brilliant and dis- 
'iii^nished judicial careerr— those great talents, 
a id th'it. com .rehensive est of intellect, re- 
((uisite tor the successful pursuit of tiie His- 
torical rese uches. in which he contimit'd to 
be engajjed lor some length of time. And, as 
the result of these investigations, Mr. Camp- 
bell had written the very interesting and le 
liable work — "Annoh of Tryon County." which 
was published in 1831. Every page of this His- 
torj gives evidence of careful research — every 
sentence affords proof of rare ability brought 
to the task of its preparation; the author has 
indeed woven one of the fairest garlands, and 
in which he has twined flowers of fadeless 
bloom, which has yet been contributed toward 
that immortal wre!Vth whose festoons adorn, 
with their 4reshness anrl their bciiuty, the glo- 
rious Temple of American Hist(;ry. 

The elegant and pleasant residence of the 
Hon. William \V. Campbell — which was en-ct- 
ed upon the site of the old family Man.^fon 
that had been used as a Fort in the Revolution 
— is delightfully situated in the northern part 
of the village of Cherry Valley, upon the pub- 
lic road leading to tiie Moliawk Valley. I 
nt:iy here be allowed to express the earnest 
wish, that the worthy and distinguishe<l man 
who has his residence here, and whose name 
justly gives honor to this place which has al- 
v/ays been his home, may long survive to en- 
joy, iti the evening of his days, the rich bless- 
ings of life whose unwearied labors have been 
given toward advancing the knowledge, and 
increasing the happiness of his fellow men. — 
Such an able and tin!}' eminent career, marked 
by ils rare useluUness, which has thus been 
quietly pursued by .Judge Campbell, is indeed 
worthy of the noblest arabitiou — worthy of 
the most e irnest emulation. 

Time will not permit, nor will space allow a 
full miration of the intere.stiny: and important 
events which occurred during the Revolution 
in Tryon County; nor can I retrace the tragi- 
cal scenes or repeat the fearful lege ids con- 
m-cled with the tii;ice border strife which had 
swept through the Mohawk Valley, and thro* 
Schoharie, is the allied British and Indians. 
led by the Butlers and l;y Brant, made frtqiunt 
incursions throughout tiie years of 1778, '79, 
'80 a.nd '81 into this extensive region, burn- 
ing and desolating the frontier settlements. 
and haibarously massacieing the inhabitants 
along all the borders. As an instunce of the 
terrible manner in which this ruthless war- 
fare vvas waged against the uijyielding patiiots 
of the Revoluti n' a band of the Iroquois, 
numbering some 303 warriors, made an at- 



tack upon Cobleskill, killed twenty-two of its 
inhabitants, besides taking forty-two prison- 
ers, and then plundered and burned the set- 
tlement. While this expedition was in pro- 
gress, different portions of the Six Nations, 
upon the same day, April 18th, 1779. also made 
savage attacks upon the American settlements 
at Canajoharie, at Stone Arabia and at Scho- 
harie — burning the houses, taking prisoners 
and killing such of the inliabitants as were 
unable to escape, within these respective ham- 
lets. During the months of May and Jun« of 
this year, 1779. particularly, the mo^t ruth- 
less warfare was prosecuted against the settle- 
ments along the Susquenanna and the Dela- 
ware, and in Ulster County, culminating in 
the battle and massacre at Minnisink upon the 
20th of July, 1779. A party of sixty war- 
ri<n-s, and twenty-seven tories disguised as In- 
dians, led by the Mohawk Chief, Br mt, ar- 
rived in the'vicinity of Minnisink on the 
evening of the lyth, of July, 1779, and wait- 
ing until thft inhabitants of this pi.ace were 
vviaped in slumber, the Mohawk Chief then 
made a sudden and fierce attack upon the set- 
tlement, setting tire to and burning the dwell- 
ing houses Jibove their sleeping inmates, mur- 
dering helpless women and children, and then 
ravaged the place. Soon as inteligence of this 
raid had re.iched Goshen, a Militia force of 
one hundred and' forty nine men were imme- 
diately mustered in Cringe County, and gav3 
rapid pursuit to the retie.itiug enemy, whom 
they overtook upon the second day. Brant 
succeeded in leading the Americans into a par- 
tial ambush, and trom the advantngeoiis posi- 
tion which the Iroqnos Chief had chosen, a 
deadly fiie was rolled upon the ranks of the 
active borderers, from eleven o'clock in the 
morning until the sun had sank behind the 
western hiils, when the ammunition of the 
patriots failing, they were placed afmost com- 
pletely within the i)0wer ot their cruel adver- 
saries. The Americans had lost a large num- 
ber during the de&perate coriflict ; seventeen 
men who were wounded, though they appealed 
for mercy, were instantly mass icreed; Brant, 
himself burying his tom.^hiwk in the brains 
of the brave, but wounded Col. Wisiner ; and 
out of the entire force, 149, which had 
marched from Orange, only thirty effected 
their escape, and returned to tell of the death 
of their companions in arms. 'I'hese contin- 
ued and fearful atrocities were the means of 
awakening as I had suggested in an earlj' chap- 
ter of this sketch--that full and terrible retri- 
bution which Sulliv^an's expedition had visited 
upon the Iioqr.ois during its march through 
the Chemung and Seneca Lake Valleys. The 
Six Nations had met with comjilete defeat, 
which in effect actually dismembered their 
time honored Confederacy, at the battle of the 
Ciieinung; still, the Indians cherished an in- 
placable purpose of revenge, and parties con- 
\iaued to ravage tie Mohawk and Schoharie 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG VALLEY, ETC. 



•as 



country until after the termination of the 
war" Ttius Sir Jolin Johnson, accompanied 
hy a force of 700 of the allied British and In- 
dians, in the month ot May, 1780, entered the 
Mohawh Valley, at midnight, and with tire, 
tlie tomahawk and scalping-knife, desolated 
its settlements. Soon after this forary in the 
Mohawk valley, Sir John Johnson, in com- 
mand of several companies of regulars, marchn 
from Oswego to the Susquehanna, and at 
Tioga were joined by the Senecas and otlier 
tribes of the Iroquois, who were led by Thyen- 
tlenagea and Cornplanter. The combined force, 
amounting to some 1500 men, supplied with 
three pieces of artillery, &c., then proceeded 
along the eastern branches of the Susquehana 
to the Schoharie, and entering this fertile re- 
gion, which had first been settled about 1712, 
The enemy, commencing their work of rapine 
at nightfall, Oct. 15th, 1780, remorselessly 
desolated its flourishing settlements, burning 
various hamlets throughout the valley, mns- 
sacreing the inhabitants, &c. ; and, upon the 
18th, the marauders commenced their work- 
of devastation along the Mohawk valley, 
every dwelling upon either side of the river, 
as far as Fort Plain, was burned, and the pa- 
triots of this region were again subjected to 
the terrible ordeal of Indian massacre, to 
which the settlers of this lovely valley were 
so often doomed. I have thus given detached 
instances of the border warfare of Try on county; 
the full history of this sanguinary struggle 
would require volumes. The Midas of gold — 
the God who receives such universal^worship — 
however, had proffered twenty dollars for the 
scalp of every friend of the American cause, 
whether of helpless women or of innocent 
children, which the savages could tear from 
the bleeding forms of their murdered victims 
and bring to the British officers, thus making 
these midnight mas.sacres a projlkiUe business ; 
and hence, according to the system of ethics 
v/hich now everywhere prevails, and which 
approves and sustains every enterprise that 
"makes it pay," these atrocities committed 
by the savages were entirely justifiable and 
commendable, and the actors should accord- 
ingly be canonized as "saints." 

In all the border warfare which the Iroquois 
had waged against the patriots of the Revo- 
lution, in the ruthless attack which had 
been made upon the settlements at Unadilla, 
Saratoga, German Flats, Wyoming, Cherry 
A^'alley, Schoharie, Minisink and Ulster county, 
in accordance with the belief of the men of 
the Kevolution, who had witnessed and who 
had suffered from these scenes of blood and 
devastation, as Avell as the concurrent testi- 
mony of all the early historians of the Ecvo- 
lutionary war, Gordon, Eanisay, Marshall, 
&c., Thyendenagea (Brant,) was the "head 
and the front" — the animating master-spirit. 
H. R. Schoolcraft, LL.D., who had made the 
most extensive and elaborate researches re- 



specting the character and history of the In- 
dian race, thus refers to Brant : " He posses- 
sed, in perfection all the subtlety, subterfuge, 
art, and, when lie grasped the tomahawk in 
active war. all the cruelty of the forest sav- 
age." ("History of the Indian tribes of the 
U. S.," Vol. vi., page 28 Jr.) It may also be 
mentioned, that whilst the writer of this 
sketch was prosecuting, under authority of 
the State Government, surveys in Weslei-n • 
New York during the season of 18-11, and be- 
ing engaged in these labors for some days 
upon the Jndian Reservations located in that 
section, the opportunity was afforded of a 
lengihy interview and conversation with the 
distinguished and venerable Sachem of the 
Senecas, Gov. Blacksnake, who had participa- 
ted when a young man, in the French and 
Indian wars, and also in the various incur- 
sions, particularly at Wtjomimj, as connected 
witlr the Indian v?arfare waged against our 
frontiers during the Revolutionary war. This 
eminent chief of the Iroquois, at the time of 
our interview, had reached the extraordinary 
age of one hundred and seventeen years, and 
he was probably the latest survivor among all 
who had taken part in the engsigement at 
Wyoniing, in the month of July, 1778; and 
although he had been engaged, together with 
the rest of his nation, in the expeditions con- 
ducted against the patriots at the period of 
the Revolution, the venerable chief conversed 
very freely and fully, for the space of several 
hours, in respect to the antiquity of the aboii- 
ginal race upon our continent, the history of 
the Iroquois, the icar paths which, they hail 
opened during the war of the Revolution ; and 
from the account which this n^ed and emi- 
nent Sachem gave of Brant, the early histo- 
rians of the Revolution, as well as the poet 
Campbell in the pages of "Gertrude of Wyo- 
ming," have but justly and truthfully de- 
scribed the character and the career of the 
accomplished but cruel chjef of the Mohawks, 
as " the Monster Brant." — Gov. Blacksnake 
had enjoyed the most ample facilities to be- 
come conversant with the various movements 
and hostile excursions of the Irotiuois. ami *.<♦ 
know bj' whom they were led. He had, at an 
early date, as chief of the Senecas, held a posi- 
tion of gr^at and controlling influence among 
the warritrs of his nation, and had negocuxteil 
a treaty with President Wasuinutox, and iiad 
afterward held conferences in relation to th- 
affairs of the Six Katiuns, and with several 
other Presidents, as John Adams, Jackson, 
&c., &c. 

I had called quite early in the morning of a 
pleasant October day, to see tiiis venerabif 
Chiet, at his re.sideuce, within the native an<l 
yet unbroken forests, through which flowed 
the waters of the ni/ble Allegany river, while 
toward the west our view was limited by a 
majestic range ol mountains, which were co- 
vered with luxuriant wildwoods, now tinged 



34 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG TAH^BY, EfC. 



with the goldeiji hues, and the crimson-tir^ted 
magnificence o,f autumn. The aged chief could 
only recall with some efifort, and quite slowly, 
the reminiscence^ COAnected with the former 
glory of the Iioquois ; and as he thus re^lated 
the traditions connected with the history of 
his nation, — who, within his own time, had 
been the sole possessors, the monarchs, of all 
the broad lands west of the Hudson, but 
which he had lived to see acknowledge the 
Bway of another power and another race. His 
mind, at intervals, seemed to be drifting out 
from the shores of mortal life, until it seemed 
almost laying hold of the beautiful es^istence 
and King of the Iroquois had evinced his pre- 
of the spirit-land. The distinguished Sachem 
ference to narrate the annals and traditions of 
the days of the lost power and greatness of 
his nation, mainly in the Indian dialect : and 
an Indian maiden, of some fifteen summers, 
who had received the rudiments of education, 
became our interpreter. This Indian maid 
had taken a seat upon a rude lounge or couch 
near the Chief, and, attired in the graceful 
negligence of the Indian costume, her loveli- 
ness and beauty might well rival that posses- 
sed by the fairest maid of European race— and, 
with the exception of a more brilliaixt hue of 
the dark tresses which flowed around her 
neck and bosom, and of a deeper tint to that 
rosy glow which flushed, too, over her bosom 
and hei; fair cheek, this beautiful child, qi the 
forest could not have been distinguished from 
the fairest lady who within our own proud 
halls, wander* through the mazy labyrinth of 
the dance. The hours had fled by half uncon- 
sciously while the aged chief thus related the 
myths of Indian lore, and the rays of the set- 
ting sun, were already tinging with soft and 
mellowed radiance the crimson-tinted moun- 
tain forest, ere we had rested from that long 
conversation, and I had turned to examine 
some medals which the chief had received 
from President Washington, and other Presi- 
dents, together with various mementoes which 
the sachem had religiously preserved. In the 
mean while, the fair Indian maiden, reposing 
*upon the rude lounge, had fallen, asleep, 
whilst her. raven hair seemed to cluster more 
softly round her neck and bosom, and her 
cheek at times was flushed with a deeper, ro- 
t-ier glow ; and thus an hour had passed ere 
this child had wakeoed from her dreams. 
'Tis but a S:imple picture— an unpretentious 
i^cene, — a slight artistic group, which had thus 
been formed in the home of the chief, and 
which I now recall from memory's mystic 
realm : — the aged, venerable chief, and the 
fair and useful maiden reposing in slumber — 
the little group bathed in the light of the set- 
ting sun. But if it were represastedin the 
beautiful aqd almost breathing forms which 
the genius Qf the sculptor wakens. to life from 
the cold ma,rble, it would far better illustrate 
the history of our time, and of the successive 



eras of time which con.tiuue to roll in ceaseless^ 
course, than any written page can do ; this, 
scene, if it were embodied in the wrapt and 
glowing beauty which liesyet unshaped in the 
marble block, would most truthfully picture 
the history of the human race as our genera- 
tion passes away only to give place to another 
in a succeeding age, ari^ would indeed present 
SL vepetition of the scei^es of life as they, were 
grouped in the earliest times, even when the- 
first inhabitants of earth yet lingered near the 
lost Gardens of, Eden, in the shadow of 
" The inj,mortal trees which Oivertop 
The cherubim defended battlements," 

An effort has been made in late years to. 
gloss over the crimes committed by Brant ; 
but the Mohawk chief 

"Hath murdered sleep," 
nor he, nor any of his apologists, can lay the 
haunting spirit which through all future time , 
shall bring against his name the execution of 
those deeds which shall stamp his reputation, 
with the blackest infamy — this accusing spirit, 
as if it were one which erst had inhabited the 
living form of some victim of the massacre of 
Wyoming, or elsewhere, will not now avaunt 
at human bidding, but will aiilix an indellible 
blot upon. his fame, and like Banquo's ghost, 
will forever echo the words of retributive- 
doom : 

"Sleep no moreto all the house." 

Whilst Butler had been the acknowledged 
leader of the tories, Thyendenagea was also 
the well-known instigator and leader of the 
savages in their incursiops and cruel massa- 
cres— and from the hatred with which he pur- 
sued the patriots of the Revolution , he seemed 
an irapersonification of A ttila. 

It will be admitted that the friends .of Ame- 
rican Independence living in Tryon county, 
in orner to afford any protection to themselves 
and families, against the combined attacks of 
the tories and the Indians, or to conquer in 
this unequal. contest with their allied enemies, 
must be under the military command of an 
able and efiicient oflicer. Gen. Herkimer had 
the immediate command of the Tryon militia 
in the early part of the war, and preceding 
his decease in 1778. Gen. Phillip Hchuyler-; 
an able and judicious officer, was assigned to, 
the chief command of the Northern Depart- 
ment, which embraced Tryon county, &c., and 
the energetic manner in which he had orga- 
nized the patriot militia, and by his prompt 
and skillful movements disconcerted the com- 
binations and successfully resisted the attacks 
of the allied enemy, the Americans were en- 
abled to shelter many of the frontier settle- 
ments from, impending ruin, and. to save the 
beautiful region, of, the Hudscc from entire, 
devastation* Gen. Schuyler was born at Al- 
bany, in 1738. He held a commission as cap- 
tain in the New York troops at Fort Edward, 
in 1755, and accompanied the expedition whiciii 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUXG VALLEY, ETC. 



35 



was sent down Lake George, in 1758, and was 
near Lord Howe when that nqbleman fell. 
In 1768, Col. Schuyler, together with George 
Clinton, and Nathaniel Woodhall, of Long 
Island, were members of the Colonial Assem- 
bly, and most ably and fearlessly advocated 
the rights of the colonies. Schuyler pre- 
sented a series of resolutions aflirming the 
rights of the colonies— and although they were 
not passed, the British majority, in the power 
which it had previously exercised, was effec- 
tually broken. In the Second Congress, which 
met in the month of May, 1775, Mr. Schuyler 
took his place -as one of the delegates from 
New York. Washujoton and Schuyler were 
both members of the committee to whom was 
assigned the duty of preparing "Rules and 
Regulations for the Governnjent of the Aruay" 
and from their association as members of this 
.committee, a mutual esteem and friendship 
was formed, which continued to strengthen 
till the close of life. Upon the 19th of June, 
1775, Schuyler was appointed by Congress to 
,an active command, and was assigned the 
rank of third Major General in the Army. In 
the month of September, in the same year, 
acting under the instructions for the invasion 
of Canada, Gen. Schuyler proceeded with 
Gens. Montgomery and Wooster as far as the 
Isle-au-Noix, and upon his arrival here, in 
consequence of the severe illness of General 
Schuyler, the chief command of the expedition 
devolved upon Gen. Montgomery. In Decem- 
ber, 1775, Oen. Montgomery received instruc- 
tions to disarm the tories living within Tryon 
county, and he performed this labor with 
much better success than the arduous nature 
of the duties which it enjoined had promised. 
"While Gen. Schuyler held command of the 
Northern Department, during the summer of 
1777, Gen. Burgoyne invaded our country 
from the North, with a well appointed mili- 
tary force of ten thousand men, which was de- 
signed to co-operate with a large force under 
the command of St. Leger, which had already 
invaded the Mohawk valley, together with 
another army, which it was expected Sir 
Henry Clinton would lead from the South, and 
thus crush the country with this single move- 
ment. Gen. Schuyler made the most active 
preparations to meet the invading Biitish 
army ; and, in the meanwhile, he skilfully 
obstructed and retarded its march into the 
interior by impeding the navigation of streams, 
rendering the roads almost impassable, suc- 
cessfully gathering provisions and military 
stores, and was fast rallying the militia around 
the American flag, preparatory to making an 
attack upon the invading army, which should 
result in certain triumph. However, in the 
month of August, Gen. Schuyler, while en- 
gaged in arduous exertions which promised 
-early and complete succes^s, was superseded in 
x»mmand by Gates. This change was ren- 
.dered necesfiary, Chie/ Justice Marshall re- 



marks, as a "sacrifice to the prejudices of 
New England." The removal of the ablest 
and most skillful generals in the army, froni 
command, had also been .iiade in other in- 
stances during the Revolutionary war — in the 
war of 1812 with Great Britain— and in the 
late civil war in which our country was en- 
gaged to crush the rebellion ; and, in all 
these instances, the removal of patriotic and 
efficient military men by superiors, who were 
entirely unacquainted with the strategical re- 
quirements of war, has been instrumental iu 
postponing the triumph of our arms. In thin 
instance, the energy of Gen. Schuyler had laid 
the foundation for the important victory at 
Saratoga, Gen. Schuyler was elected to Con- 
gress in 1777, and was re-elected to fill the 
same position for three successive terms. In 
1787, Gen. Schuyler was chosen as a Senator 
from New York, and ably represented our 
State in the first Senate of the United States ; 
and, in 1797, he was again deputed to the 
U. S- Senate. General Schuyler continued to 
reside at Albany, in the elegant family man- 
sion built in 1760-61, where he hospitably en- 
tertained dLstiuguished guests from Europe, as 
well as the humble and poor, equally witli 
the eminent men of our own land. Within 
this mansion, the Baroness Reidesel, LaFay- 
ette, Steuben, and Rochambeau, at various 
times, had been courteously entertained. Gen, 
Schuyler died in the autumn of 180-i, closln;j; 
an eventful career, in which he had been dis- 
tinguished alike as a military man and as a 
civilian, and his decease occasioned deep sor- 
row and mourning throughout our land. 

I have thus sketched, incidentally, the more 
important events which marked the border 
warfare of the Revolution, and of which Tryon 
county was the principal theatra^ — as amid its 
hills and along its valleys hau been enacted 
those scenes, which form one of the darkest 
tragedies of all time. 

In giving an outline of the ;history of the 
region bordering the head waters of the Sus- 
quehanna, beside the information whieli I had 
received from Mr. Willard Cheney, who had 
been one of the early residents of Otsego 
county, ajad the facts derived from the aged 
chief of the Senecas, who had participated in 
the Iroquois 'incursions at Wyoming, and at 
various places in Tryon county, I have also 
derived aid in .consulting several valuable his- 
torical works, as "Annals of Tryon Co., by 
Wm. W. Campbell" ; • ' Jonrnals of the Legi.s- 
lative Council of N. Y., 1691 to 1775," 4to. ; 
" Historical Collections of the Essex Insti- 
tute" ; "History of the* Indian Tribes of the 
U. S," by H. R, Schoolcraft, 4to., 6 vols. 

In wandering so far from the Chemung 
Valley, whilst engaged in gathering anew the 
legends relating to those tragical events that 
led to the organization of the expedition of 
1779, I have given an imperfect outline of the 
early history of the regiou adjoining the bead 



36 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THK CHEMUNG VALLEY, ETC. 



waters of the Susquehanna , and, now, in re- 
tracing our steps to the Valley of the Che- 
mung, will pause for a moment in this region 
bordering upon the Otsego Lake, whobe chrys- 
tal waters also feed the tributary streams of 
the Susquehanna, and attempt to recall a few 
of the interesting reminiscences connected 
Avith the sojourn in this section of the division 
under command of Gen. James Clinton, while 
pursuing its march toward the Tioga, where a 
jimctiou was formed _ with the brigadeunder 
the inunediate command of Gen. Sullivan— 
;.ud whence our united forces then proceeded 
upon the important expedition of 1779, along 
the Chemung and Seneca Lake valleys. And 
while here, I too shall endeavor to recall 
other reminiscesices which linger around the 
chores of this beautiful, fairy lake : but I 
ui'ust walk lightly here, for it is sacred and 
lialki'.ved ground ; it has been consecrated by 
-thopresence of genius, and from the associa- 
tions which 'thus have been thrown around 
this shore, it v.'ill forever remain one of the 
most interesting and sacred spots upon Ameri- 
can soil. The Otsego Luke forms one of the 
inost lovely and lairy-like sheets of water to 
he found within our county ; the lake is some 
iiine liiiles in length, and is surrounded ujion 
either side bv romantic and lofty hills, the 
vvaters of the-lako are Very deep, and clear 
, 1 beautiful, while the entire surrounding 
nerv possesses a wildness and beauty that 
: 'Ug-s alone to Nature. At the time Gen. 
;:itou had launched his flotilla upon this 
j.ns'e, while on his way to join the tiotilla of 
]77'.), there were only two places on the shore 
of the lakeVhich had been marked by civili- 
zation. Otsego is an Indian name, and signi- 
Jiert a place ol reudc:^vous and friendly greet- 
ing. Olsego*had been the original name of 
the lake as designated by the Indians: a rock, 
known as -'the Otsego rock," located near the 
cutlet of the lake, is affirmed by tradition to 
have be-ni the precise spot where the red men 
(Ttfthe forest had been accustomed to meet 
irom an immemorial period. The present vil- 
liige of Cooperstown is situated at this place. 
Ju'l7o7, the footstei)s of civilized man had 
l>robably first pressed the shores of the beau- 
tnul lake, since known to tb« world by the 
name so long given to it by the Indians, the 
Otsego. One hundred and thirty years ago; 
t'ailwalder Golden, Surveyor General of the 
Province of New York, it ajipears, visited the 
place where Cooperstown is now situated, ma- 
king at that early date an examination of the 
region surrounding. the lake and tlie Susque- 
hanna river, to both of which Mr. Colder re- 
fers in his report. The next account in rela- 
tion .to the country about the Otsego lake 
heing visited by the white man, is contained 
in the journal of the Eev. Gideon Hawley, 
where this missionary, under date of "May 31, 
1775,'/ refers to the difficulty in obtaining a 
canoe, and thus incidentally makes mention 



of this lake : "In afternoon came from Ot- 
sego lake," &c. This place — the shores lying 
adjacent to the outlet of the lake — where tlie 
lovely village of Cooperstown now stands, is 
said to have also lieen frequented by Indian 
traders for a long time preceding the earliest 
permanent settlement made in the vicinity. 
A patent for a tract of land lying near the Ot- 
sego lake, had been granted to John C. Hart- 
wick, in an instrument bearing date 22d of 
April, 1761, and, about the year 1765, Mr. 
Hartwick commenced to make a clearing near 
the outlet of the laUe, but sidisequently be- 
coming convinced that these improvements 
had been made outside th#liraits of his estate 
he soon relinquished it altogether and aban- 
doned the place. Thus terminated the first 
attempt, so unsuccessful in its results, to form 
a settlement in the vicinity of Otsego lake. 
In the year 1768, as previously mentioned in 
this sketch. Col. George Crogan had secured a 
conveyance of a tract of land from the In- 
dians, amounting to one hundred thousand 
acres, lying upon the west side of the lake, 
and of the Susquehanna river ; and in 1760, a 
patent vras given by the Colonial Government 
of New- Yoik, , securing, this same parcel of 
land to Col. Crogan, and others. It appears 
that Col. Crogan had obtained a loan of three 
thoilsiind pounds sterling, through the agency 
of Governor "William Franklin, of New Jersey, 
and had given security for payment of this 
sum. Upon the 2nd of December, 1769, the 
other, persons to whom the p^vtent hail beer^ 
granted, beside Col. Crogan, ccmveyed to hiui, 
in three sei)arafe instruments, the full fiile 
and legal rights to this tract of land ; flie ori- 
ginal patent, and three conveyances, are un- 
doubtedly the earliest legal instruments ma- 
king conveyance of real estate with the term 
of Otse. On the 10th of March, 1770. ■ Col. 
Crogan ghve, as additional security for pay- 
ment of the three thousand pounds before 
mentioned, a mortgage on that portion of this 
tract of land, since known as Cooper's Patent; 
and in March, 1773, a judgment was obtained 
in the Supreme Court of the colony of New 
York against Colonel Crogan, upon the bond 
which had accomi)anied tlie mortgage. And 
finally, all the securities resting upon this pa- 
tent, as early as the month of May, 17S5, 
where assigned to William Cooper and An- 
drew Craig, of Burlington, N. J. In the au- 
tumn of 1785, Mr. Cooper, accompanied by 
several Surveyors, made a visit to the land 
which he had thus secured in the vicinity of 
Otsego lake, arriving here by the route of 
Cherry Valley and Middletield ; and, in Janu- 
ary of the succeeding year, 1786, Mr. Cooper 
commenced a settlement upon his land — 
choosing a pleasant and delightful location 
near the shores of the beautiful Otsego lake. 
Previous to the settlement thus made in the 
winter of 1786, by Mr. Cooper upon the site 
of the present village of Cooperstown. Mr. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OP TTIR CHEMUKG VAlXEr, ETC. 



37 



Hartwick had made an attempt to foim a set- 
' tlement here, as before stated ; and Col. ('ro- 
Ran, with \m fatiiilj', had alr^o made their 
home at tliis place for a brief period, and 
while here had erected, it is believed, a block- 
lionse, some fifteen feet square, cnnstrncted of 
hewn logs, and which was the first building, 
it is supposed, erected in the region adjacent 
to the Otsego hike. This building reniiiined 
standing until 1797 or 17D8, wheji it was taken 
down, and the logs of which it was construc- 
ted were removed bj' Mr. II. P, Eaton, and set 
lip near his lesidence as an out-hou«e. 

It should be mentioned, however, that pre- 
vious to the time the fir.st permanent settle- 
ment had thus been commenced by BIr. Coo- 
per near the Otsego lake, this region had been 
connected with memorable evciits, and inte- 
y'esting episodes in American history, which 
will forever render it hall()wed ground, and 
give it an important place in the anna's of our 
country. Cooperstown had been the sceiie of 
stirring incidents not les>? than pleasant asso- 
ciations, connected with our eaily liistory, 
which will ever continue to gather around its 
name tlie most'sacred remiJiiscenses. 

In the spring of 1779, Geu. James Clinton, 
in commiind of a biigade designed to co-ope- 
rate with the force- uiider Gen. Sullivan in pro- 
secution of the camj^aign against the Iroquois, 
had ascended the Mohawdv as far as Canajo- 
hario. and upon Iris anival at this place Gen. 
Clinton sent an expedition, c-jn.sisting of gome 
five hundred men, luider command of Odnnel 
Van Schick, accoui)>auied by Lt.-C(d. Willet, 
with rendezvous at Fort Schuyler, against the 
Onondagiis. This expedition proceeded at 
once to destroy the Onondaga castle, burned 
fifty houses, killed some thirty warriors, and 
took thirty-seven prisoners, thus completely 
accomplishing the purposes of the expedition, 
and returned in six days from the commence- 
mitnt of the march, to the main army under 
command of Clinton. Gen. Clinton, then 
commenced, after the return of this expedi- 
tion, to open a road through the wilderness, 
from Caiiajoharie to the head of Otsego lake, 
a distance of some twenty miles. Thislalior 
was difficult and arduous ; this military road 
was required for the passage of artillery, and 
also for tlie transmission of numerous boats, 
and the entire labor connected with this march 
called forth the utmost fortitude and endur- 
ance of our brave and hardy soldiery. Traces 
of this military road, which is known as the 
" Continental Koad," can still be seen. Gen. 
Clinton had commenced his arduous march 
from Cannjoharie on the 17th of June, 1779, 
and had opened this road thrcmgh the forest, 
and across a hilly region of country, and suc- 
ceeded in reaching tlie liead <>f Otsego Lake, 
or Springfield, upon 30th of June 1779. Gen. 
Clinton then proceeded with his division, who 
were emiiarked in boats upon the lake on the 
2&f of July, 1779,— to th'e foot of -Otsego Lake, 



and encamped his troops upOii the site ,of the 
jiresent village of Cooperstown. Gen. Clinton 
here established his quarters, in the bK)ck- 
liouse referred to, wdiieli had been erected pre- 
vious to the expedition of 1779, and which 
\vas situated in the grounds now sun ounriing 
ai d belonging to the Hall. The troops uudev 
command of General Clinton, remained en- 
camped near the Otsego Lake for the space of 
several weeks, or from about the first of July 
to to the first week in August. Whilst t^lie 
troops were encamped at this place, thuy were 
exercised every day in efficient military drill. 
Two spi'es, who had 1 eiui c'aptured wdiile the 
army was pursuing its ra irch from ttic Mo- 
havCk Vallej' to tlie region of (Jt.-ego, were 
tried by courts maitial during the time the 
troops were thus encamped near the outlet 
of the lake, and were stnteneed to be shot. 
flcn. Clinton reprieved the sentence of 'one of < 
these deserters, who was named bnyder— the 
sentence of the other was promptly carried 
into eil'lict, the deserters being execiited at a 
spot lying upon the west side of the lake, near 
the outlet. Two spies had previouslj^ heen 
executed while the army 'was enca.mpc'd at 
Springfield, during the progress (^f its march 
from the Mokawk^valley to t!ie Otsego Lake 
One of these. Hare, was a ■Lieutenant in' the 
British service — the other \( v. ben v, w.is the 
infamous tory who has befire bi.en ici'crred 
t'oin connection with his ruthle.'^'hutcheryof 
the- infant child of the Mitchells, at Cherry 
Valley. Whilst the troops commanded by 
Geu.jClinton were encamped at (he foot of the 
OtsegtJ Lake, aside from the daily drill, they 
were not idle. Owing, to. tile drouth of iho, 
summer season, tiie waters ot the outlet, that 
aiforded communication from the lake to the 
Susquelianna, had become very-i.ow. ami they 
wereal.so somewhat obstructed by tlood-w'ocjd, 
andithus iiom both causes, prestrii ting a bar- 
rier to their navigation ; and accordingly the 
troops were employed in the construction of 
adam;across the outlet ot the lake, which 
raised the wateis iu the lake to a sufii«-ienfc 
height, that, upon removal of this artilicial 
damj the accumulated floods not only re- 
moved the obstruction of flood- w-ood,&c., but 
also safely carried the nuin-eious liotilla, num- 
bering two hundred and lifty boats, and upon 
which were embarked the' troops, cannon and 
stores connected with the army, d(.>wn the 
channel to tiie Susipiehanna — the force under 
commend of Gen. Clinton forming a •junction 
at Tioga with the main army, commanded by 
Gen. Sullivan, ui^n the 22nd of August, 1779. 
Some traces of this dam, thus constructed by 
<5en. Clinton's troops, remained visible until 
a very recent period, in the vicinity of Coo- 
perstown. A large iron swivel, wliich was 
said to have been buried by Clinton's troops, 
while they were encamped at this place, Wi 6 
found iu digging the ce!l<ir of the house first 
occui)ied by Judge Cooper. This piece of ar- 



38 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG VALLEY, ETC. 



tillerv, which was named the " Cricket," was 
the onlj' one, lor a number of years, that was 
used for the purpose of salutes, rejoicings, &c , 
by the citizens of Cooperstown ; and finally it 
was bursted while being used in celebrating 
the anniversary of our national indepenc- 
ence. 

Mr. William Cooper, as previously remarked 
had come to the vicinity of Otsego lake in 
the autumn of 1785, accompanied by a party 
of surveyors. It should be mentioned that 
in 1783, while Gen. VVashi.ngton' was making 
a tour of observation throughout a portion of 
our country, then so recently formed into an 
independent empire, after he had made the 
visit at the Chemung Valley, before referred 
to in this sketch, the illustrious hero and 
statesman then proceeded to visit the beau- 
tiful Otsego Jake, passing along the lovely re-, 
gion where the village of Cooperstown is now 
situated ; thus, the immortal Washington was 
the first actual explorer, after the conclusion of 
peace, of the region of the Otsego lake — and 
he was the first to perceive the great natural 
advantages which it possessed — and his foot- 
steps, which once were presseil upon this soil, 
liave made it hallowed ground. 

Gen. W.iSiiiNGTON thus describes this tour, 
and alludes to his visit to the Otsego lake and 
the head-quarters of the Susquelianna, in a 
letter addressed to the Marquis de Chastel- 
leaux, an exti-act from which I will here give : 

'Trinceton, Oct., 12, 1783. 

My dear Chevalier — I have not had the 
honor of a letter from you since the 4th of 
March last. -' » « I have lately made a 
tour of the lakes George and Champlain as far 
SIS Crown Point— then returning to Schenec- 
tady, I proceeded up the Mohawk river to 
Fort Schuyler,(formerly Fort Stanwix), crossed 
over Wood Creek which empties into the Onei- 
da lake, and affords a water communication 
with lake Ontario. I then traversed the oountry 
io the head qf the eastern branch of the Susquehanna, 
■and viewed the lake Olsego, and the portage be- 
tween that lake and the Mohawk river at 
Canajoharie. Prompted by these actual ob- 
servations, I could not help taking a more 
contemplative and extensive view of the vast 
inland navigation of these United States. * * 
I anj, dear Chevaliier, 

Your most obedient, 

Ge0B)C,e Washington. 

Thus tliis great and illustrious man— "First 
in war, first in peace, and^A?* in the hearts of 
his countrymen"— was the first to visit, solely 
for the purpose oi a visit the region of the Otsego 
lake. _ As his eye then drank in the matchless 
beauties of its wild, romantic Scenery, this 
visit, made at such an early date, forever 
afterward consecrated the shores of the lovely 
Otsego, giving it a sacred place among 

" The Delphian vales, the Palestines, 
The JMeceas of the mind," 



The first permanent settlement which was; 
made upon the site of the present village of 
Cooperstown had been formed in 1786 ; dur- 
ing this year several persons came and located 
here. A widow lady, by the name of John- 
son, with her family, were undoubtedly the 
earliest permanent residents in Cooperstown. 
They, at first, lived in a log. house, but in the 
spring of 1786 Mrs. Johnson had a frame house 
erected, which she sold, during the course of 
the summer to Mr. William Ellison, the Sur- 
veyor, who removed the house, the same sea- 
son, to a place near the outlet, and now in- 
cluded in the grounds of Edgewater. This 
house, which was the earliest frame building 
constructed within the present village of 
Cooperstown, was two stories in height and of 
respectable dimensions ; it was applied for the 
purpose of a tavern. In June, 1786, Mr. John 
Miller, accompanied by his father, arrived in 
the vicinity of Cooperstown, then inhabited 
only by the family of Mrs. Johnson above- 
mentioned ; and Mr. Miller is still a resident 
of Cooperstown— the latest, and one of the 
most honored survivors among the early pio- 
neers of the region of the Otsego lake. "Upoa 
the arrival of Mr. Miller, with his father, at 
this place, they felled a large pine-tree across 
the river, near the outlet, to answer the pur- 
pose of a bridge over the stream. The stump 
of this tree, upon which was inscribed, in 
white paint, the words "Bridge Tree," wad 
located within the grounds of Lakelands. 
During the season of 1787, a bridge, construc- 
ted of log-abutments and log-sleepers, upon 
which was placed a rude platform of logs, was 
built near the outlet. This was the first 
bridge which allowed the passage of wagons, . 
constructed across the Susquehanna in the 
vicinity of Cooperstown. Mr. Israel Guild, 
William Abbott, and James White, also came 
during the season of 1786, and settled near the 
outlet of the lake. It is believed, however, 
that no families remained in the vicinity of 
Cooperstown during the ensuing winter, ex- 
cepting those of Mrs. Johnson, Mr. Guild and 
Mr. Ellison. Early in the succeding year, 
Mr. William Cooper, accompanied by his wife, 
who then came upon a visit, , arrived in the 
vicinity of the lake. In the same year, a 
number of cinigrants, mostly from Connec- 
ticut, settled near the outlet, coustructing 
log dwellings upon the site of the village of 
Cooperstown. 

In the early part of the year 1788, Mr. Wil- 
liam Cooper had commenced the erection of 
his dwelling house, which was the second 
house of any considerable size built in Coop- 
erstown. The house was two stories in height, 
with two Avings attached. It commanded a 
fine view of the lake, and, as originally built, 
stood immediately in front of the mansion 
now known as the Hall. This building had 
been represented upon an early map of Coop- 
er.6±owu, wiiere it is designated as "Majior 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG VALLEY, ETC. 



39 



House." This house was remoyed a short 
distance in 1799, and in 1812it was completely 
destroyed by fire. Mr. Guild continued to re- 
side in the block-house, before referred to, 
until 1789. The house which had been occu- 
pied by Mr. Ellison was pulled down in 1812. 

In 1789, Mr. Cooper completed the erection 
of his residence ; but he did not remove his 
family to Cooperstown until October, 1790. 
at this date giving up his residence in the 
State of New Jersey entirely. During the 
preceding winter, however, Mr. Cooper had 
brought a stock of merchandize into the vil- 
lage, and opened a s<^^ore, a Mr. R. R. Smith 
transacting the business as merchant in this 
establishment. In 1790, according to an old 
document, Cooperstown included, among the 
buildings it then contained, seven frame 
houses, three frame barns, &c. From this 
date, the growth of the village steadily and 
rapidly progressed. The County of Otsego 
■was formed Feb. 16, 1791, and Cooperstown 
was designated by law as the County scat. 
William Cooper, upon the organization of the 
county, received the appointment as Fir.<t 
Judge of its courts ; and Richard R. Smith 
was appointed Sheriff. A court house, thirty 
feet square in dimensions upon the ground, 
and two stories in height, was built ; the 
lower story, consistiag of four rooms, was 
constructed of hewn logs ; the second story, 
used for the purposes of a court room, was 
made of frame-work. In this year, 1791, 
during the summer season, the old Red Lion 
tavern was built. Several other commodious 
buildings were also erected in the course of 
the season. 

Abraham TenBrock, Esq., from New Jersey, 
who was the earliest lawyer residing at Coop- 
erstown, came to the village in 1791. Mr. 
J. G. Fonda, Mr. Joseph Strong, and Mr. Moss 
Kent, who were respectively members of the 
legal profession, came and settled at Coopers- 
town in the course of one or two years. These 
gentlemen were the earliest lawyers, engaged 
in the duties of their professioi*, resident in 
the village. Dr. Fuller, who was the first 
physician of any prominence or standing in 
the place, arrived at Cooperstown in June, 
1781, and continued acctively and successfully 
employed in the labors incident to his profes- 
sion, at this place, for the long term of forty- 
six years. For a considerable time, a space 
of many years, nearly all of the medical prac- 
tice in the county was entrusted to Dr. Fuller. 
The first school kept in the village of Coopers- 
town was taught by Mr. Joshua Dewey, and 
was commenced about 1792: o? '9i*. Mr. Dewey 
was born in Lebanon, Conn., in 1767. He 
entered college at the age of seventeen, and 
removed to Otsego county in 1791 ; and, in 
the school which he established at Coopers- 
town, J. FennIjiobe Cooper received his ear- 
cst school instruction, here learning his A. B.C. 
Ml". Dewey afterward represented the county 



of Otsego in the State Legislature. Mr. Dewey 
was succeeded, as teacher of the eaily s-chools 
kept at Cooperstown, by Mr. Oliver Cory, who 
gave instruction in the elementary branches of 
education during five days in the course of 
the week, reserving every Saturday for the 
purpose of instructing his scholars upon moral 
and religious subject — the most essential de- 
partment in the education of life, but which 
has now become so sadly neglected in the 
lessons taught either in our common school.s 
or academies. Mr. Cory had first held his 
school in the court house building, and subse- 
quently taught in the first school-house, 
which was a small wooden building that was 
erected in the place. He was employed as 
teacher in the schools at Cooperstown for 
many years. He had been remembered with 
kindness by a large number of the promi- 
nent citizens of Cooperstown, who had once 
been his pupils; and he departed this life only 
a few years ago, deeply lamented by all who 
knew this estimable man. The first public 
library established in the village was opened 
March 11th, 1796. Timothy Barnes was ap- 
pointed, and acted as librarian in this in-stitu- 
tion. 

The first child born in the vill'.age of Coop- 
erstown, was in 1792. The child's name 
was Nathan Howard, a son oi Mr. John How- 
ard. Mr. W. Abbott, who belonged to the- 
village community, but did not actually reside- 
in the village, had a son born some time pre- 
viously to the birth above mentioned as taking 
place in the village. This child was chris- 
tened Eeubea. Another birth had occurred^ 
upon the patent at Fly Creek, at as early date 
as 1787. The earliest death within the village 
occurred Oct. 11th, 1793 ; the deceased was 
a son of Mr. Griffin, and he v?as buried in a 
piece of ground then selected for purposes of 
interment situated where Christ's Church now 
stands. The earliest post route, reaching Coop- 
erstown was organized in 1794. This was in 
accordance with the Act, which passed the- 
Legislature on the 8th of May, 1794, establish- 
ing a post route from Albany to Canandaigua 
and leading through Cherry Valley, Cooners- 
town, &c. The post office, which was placed 
under the charge of Joseph Griffin, as post- 
master, was opened oa June 1st, 1794, at this 
place. 

The earliest religious exercises pursued upon 
the Sabbath, at Cooperstown, were conducted 
by Rev. Mr. Mdrley, a Presbyterian clergy- 
man, who remained at the village for the 
period of six months in the year 1795. A short 
time after his arrival in the place, or in the- 
month of Aug. 1795, the Presbyterian church, 
the first religious organization in the village, 
was formed. The Presbyteri m house of wor- 
ship, a structure of wood, sixty-four feet in 
length by fifty in width, was afterward built,, 
and dedicated up'>n the 6th of August, 1797. 
In September, 1797, the Rev. 'i'homas Ellisou, 



40 



PSTQRICAL.. SKETCH OF -IHE ...GJSBIMUNG , VALLEY, ETC, 



a Protectant Episcopal clergyman, from Al- 
bany, made a visit to Cooperstown, and while 
here, held selvice ici accordance with the 
rites of the Episcopal church, in the Court 
House. The first organization of the Episco- 
pal church in Cooperstown, ho we vet, was 
made Jaiuiary 1st, 1811, under tlie name of 
C'A/-«*Y Church," and the Rev. Donald Noah was 
chosen as rector, and he continued to hold 
this ofiice, informally, down to the period of 
liis deilth, which occurred in 1799. In the 
year 1799, Rev. John Frederick Ernst, a Lu- 
theran clevgNUiin, was enfployel by commu- 
nicants of his religious sect, to con'Juct the ex- 
ercises pertaining to their denomination : hut 
he rem.iineil in the village for the period of 
(Mily two years. In 1799, the Rev. .lohn Mc- 
Donald, an estimable clergyman and classical 
scholar, came to Cooiterstowu and was en- 
gaged in worthyly co'iiducting^ religious excr- 
(•ises ; but, I'ke his Divi.ne M.\s-rKR, he was 
poor, and "■ had not lohere to lay his Iirjid." He 
was arreste<l !or debt, and was placed upon the 
limits; but during his imprisonment he con- 
tinued to preach regularly in the Court House, 
to the congregation which assembled to listen 
to his beuificent teachings. It has always 
been, as it is at the present time, that if a ma?! 
lias the moral courage, the noMeness of soul, 
to lead an earnest and pure life, and to lie 
content v,dth honest poverty, he will be sure 
to receive the unjust censure and the un- 
merited persecution of the world. Tims Car- 
lyle, the rtiost profound and philosophical 
thinker of our age. in alluding to like i)ersc'''u- 
tions of worthy men, trutlifully remarks : 
"Thus persecuted -they the prophets, not ia 
Judea only, but in all lands where men have 
been." Suffering and starvation, imprison- 
ment and crucifixion, are the rewards which 
men always give to the true and noble bene- 
factors of the ra,c8 — the glorious martyrs, 
whofee immortal names are inscribed in im- 
perishable glory upon the roll of fame. 

These were the earlier religious exercises 
and church services which had lieen regularly 
institutcvl at Cooperstown. Other i\digious 
denominations, as the Baplist, &c., had orga- 
iiiaed churches and erect(d houses of worship, 
at a later date, in the village. 

In the year of 1795. the worthy enterprise 
of establisldng an Academy at Cooperstown, 
was projected. The academy edifice, which 
was sixty-five feet in length liy thirty-two feet 
in width, was secured upon the 18th of Sept. 
1795. Tuition in the English brandies of in- 
struction was given in this institution, leaving 
studies in the department of classical learning 
to be elsewhere purs-ued. Tliis Academy, 
however, acquired some distinction. In Sept. 
1797, it was visited by two of the Regents of 
the State University, the Lieut. -Governor of 
the State, and Hie llev. Thomas Ellison. The 
C>:>operstown Classical and Military Academy, 
where pupils received thorough military in- 



struction, was in successful operation for some 
time, reaching its zenith of prospeiity about 
1839. The students were at one time re- 
viewed by Gen. Sandford. The Cooperstown 
Seminary ,was instituted in 1 853-4. The Semi- 
nary edifice was commenced in , Tune, and the 
framing completed, and building erected in 
August. The entire structure was finished in 
four monUis from its commencement, Mr. 
L. M. ,Ij(dles being the architect. The school 
was openeil upon November 15th, 1851. its 
faculty, at that time, consisting of si.xtecn pro- 
lessors and teachers. It w'as dedicated on the 
itth of November, 1854, Bishop Simpson, etc., 
delivering addresses upon th^ occasion. 

In the spring of 1795, the Otsego Jlerald or 
Western Advertiser, which was the second 
journal published in the State west of Alban3% 
was estalilished at Cooperstown ; the fi^-st 
number of the paper being issued upon the 
3rd of April, 1795. Mr. Elihn Phinney was 
the editor and proprietor of tiie Otsego Herald. 
It was. published in folio form ; and the quality 
of the papqr upon which it was issued, was 
very coarse, and its color was nearly blue. 
This newspaper was continued by its first i)ro- 
prietor until the period of his decease, in 1813, 
and it was then issued by his sons, Messrs. 

F. .& E. Phinney until 1821 . 

Eievt-n d lil-rent newspapers, be.side tlv; 
Herald, at various periods, have been pub- 
l.sbod at Cooperstown. These papers were 
c lUcd the Impartial Observer, the Coopers- 
town Fcd(;ra!ist, Freeman's Journal, The 
Switch, The Watch Tower, The Tocsin, The 
Otsego, Republican, and the Otsego Examiner. 
The publication of The Country Magazine was 
commenced at Cooperstown, in 1852, but only 
continued for the space of a few months. 

Tlie earliest military organization in the 
vicinity of Cooperstown was formed in 1794. 
A volunteer compauj' of cavalry, Benjamin \ 
Griffin, Captain, was then established. The 1 
earliest regular organization of the militia, 
however, wa.s not effected until 1798, Jacob 
Morris, of Butternuts, being the first Brigadier 
General, and Francis Herring, the first C\)louel, 
In the regiment which included the village, 
John Howard was the first Captain of the 
militia company tovmed in Cooperstown. He 
was drowned in theSiisqnehanna,. in 1799, and 
was succeeded by William Sprague. And in- 
dependent military company of artillery, was 
.cstabli-shedin 1798, of which William AlJbott 
was Captain. S. Huntington, lieutenant ; G. 

G. Walker, second lieutenant. 

Upon several occasions during the early 
hirtory of Cooperstown officers of the Federal 
Government established recruiting parti.-s in 
the village—the first time in 1799, when hos- 
tilities with France were threatened. Lieut. 
•T. C. Cooper, then enlisted some thirty men 
in the company which he commanded ; and 
the second time in lbl2, when Capt. Grosve- 
nor raised a detachment of riflemen here. 



HISTORICAL SKF.TCn OF THE CHEMUNG VAIJ-EY, ETC. 



41 



The growth of Coopeislown. between the 
years 1775 and 1805, was gr.idual, tut con- 
tinued steadily to advance. Near the close of 
the year 1796, Judge Cooper made his contract 
for the building of the Hall. This was un- 
doubtedly tlie most elegant private residence, 
at the lime of its erection, wcst of Schenec- 
tady. The house was commenced in 17'J(3, 
and was completed in June, 1799, when the 
family of Mr. Cooper removed into their new 
liome. This pleasant mansion still remains 
one of the finest structures in this section ot 
the iState, and the largest and mo.st elegantly 
constructed building which has yet b>;eu con- 
structed in the vilhige of Cooperstown. 

Richard Fennimore Cooper, Esq.. selected 
Apple Hill as tl^e site for his pr0()0scd resi- 
dence in the village, at an early date, and in 
the year 1800, he had Ins private mansion 
erected upon tlds spot. His house was the 
second one constructed in the manner of a 
villa, built in the village. In year 1803, John 
M. Bowers, Esq., who was the owner of an 
estate bounded on its western limits by the 
^iusquellanna and the Otsego lake, arrived in 
the vicinity of Coopei'stowu, anil commenced 
during the same year, the erection of his resi- 
dence iit Lakelands. The house was com- 
pleted, and its proprietor moved into it in 
1804. This place is not actually within the 
limits of Cooperstown, but its occupants he- 
long to the village community. Messrs. John 
Kussell, Elijah J. Bletcalf, and Robert Camp- 
bell, all, of whom were men of marked dis- 
tinction and ability, came to Cooperstown be- 
tween the years 1795 and 1802, and became 
permanent residents. Mr. Russell was the 
second membei of Congress sent from this 
lilace. Judge Metcalf deceased in 1821, but 
the other two of these gentlemen lived to pur- 
sue a long and distinguished career of public 
usefulness, receiving the respect and honors 
which continued to be so justly awarded them. 
In 1802, John Miller constructed a brick 
house, which was the second one built in the 
place. In 1804, Judge Cooper caused a stone 
building to be erected, which was designed 
and used as a residence for his daughter, who 
]iad married Mr. Pomeroy, who came from 
Massachusetts and located in Cooperstown in 
1801. This house was the first stone building 
erected in the village. In the year 1810, 
Isaac Cooper, Esq., commenced the erection 



numbered 080 inhabitants. The original pro- 
prietor of the village plot, William Cooper, 
Est]., and to whose cai)acity and energy the 
village of Cooperstown, not less than the 
County of Otsego, was principally indebted 
for its great and substantial growth a^nl pros- 
perity during theeariy period of the settle- 
ment of the region of the Otsego, after bf had 
been a j ermaneut resident of the village lor 
nineteen years, died upon the 22nd of Decem- 
ber, 1809' 

Judge Cooper had reached the age of fifty 
five years at the period of his decease, which 
occurred at Albany. His niime, more promi- 
nently than that of any other citizen ot Coop- 
erstown, is identified with the early history of 
the place. Mr. Cooper had been appointed 
in 1791, as the first Judge of the County of 
Otsego, organized in that year. He had also 
been elected in 1794, as Member of Congress, 
and was the first representative of the district 
in the National Legislature, where he re- 
mained, I believe, by virtue of repeated elec- 
tions, during the continuous and long period 
of seventeen years. 

The visit of Washington to the spot where 
Cooperstovva is now located has already been 
mentioneJ. This place has also been visited 
at various times by other distinguished gentle- 
men. 'J'alleyrand, the eminent diplomatist, 
during his sojourn in our country, had passed 
a number ol days in the village of Coopers- 
town, making his home, whilst here, beneath 
the hospitable roof of Judge Cooper. An 
acrostic, written to Miss Anria Cooper, and 
which was inserted in the Otsego Herald of 
Oct. 2nd, 1795, has been ascribed to the facile 
pen of the accomplished French diplomatist. 
I'his Verse commenced as follows : 
"Amiable philosophe, an prlnteras dn son' age.' 
It may be mentioned that Miss Cooper, to 
wht)m these lines were addressed, was killed 
in falling from a horse in the town of Butter- 
nuts, on the 18th of September, 1800 ; and 
her funeral sermon Avas preached by Rev. D. 
Nash, and she was buried in accordance with 
tlie rites of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
then, for the firet time, iierformed in the vil- 
lage of Cooperstown. , It is said that Talley- 
rand was much delighted with his visit hei.c, 
in the midst of the quiet and romantic scenery 
of the Otsego Lake, and mingling in .socii;ty 
which might challenge favorable C(uup irison 



of his house at Edgewater, but this elegant] with the aristocracy of the pioud French 



residence was not completed until some three 
or four years afterward. In the year 1807 an 
act had p^issed the Legislature providing for 
the incorporation of the place, as "the Village 
of Otsego," — but, as a majority of the inhabi- 
tants of village were dissatisfied with the pro- 
visions of this act, they remained a dead letter 
iqion the statute book. A new law, incorpo- 
rating the place as the village of Cooperstown, 
was enacted upon Jane 12th, 1812. At this 
time, the village contained loo houses, and 



capital. 

Upon the 17th of September, 180o, Governor 
Lewis, the E.x^ecutive of the State of New York, 
at the time, accompanied by Adjutant-General 
Van Rensaclear, m ulc a visit to Cooperstown. 
In the month of September, 1839, the Hon. 
Martin Van Bnren, then President of the Uni- 
ted States, visited Cooperstown. The Presi- 
dent, who had come from Fort Plain in com- 
pany with Judge Nelson, and several other 
distinguished citizens ot Cooperstown, was es- 



42 



niSTOmCAL SKETCH OF TIfE CHEMUNG VALI.EV, ETC. 



curted into the village by several hundred 
inhabitants of the place, and the q-jeat states- 
man was enthusiastically received by large 
numbers of his political friends, residents of 
Otsego, who had assembled near the Eagle 
Hotel ; the Hon. E. B. Morehouse welcoming 
President Van Buren to their midst by an ap 
propriate address, and to which Mr. VanBuren 
made ^n able and eloquent reply. I may heie 
remark that President VanBuren possessed a 
great, sagacious and comprehensive mind 
which grasped and successfully solved the most 
difficult and most profound questions of pub- 
lic policy ; and his public career, in which he 
had discharged with eminent ability and in- 
tegrity the responsible and important diiUes 
connected with the offices which he held at 
different times as Governor of the State of 
New York, Senator in the United States' Con- 
gress, Secretary of States, in connection with 
President Jacksons administration, Vice-Presi- 
dent of the United States, and President of the 
United States, has indeed given Mr. VanBuren 
an eminent rank with the great and illustrious 
statesmen of our land. The rare and fascina- 
ting social qualities which Mr. Van Buren 
possessed, alwaj'S ready to respond to the calls 
made upon his attention by his fellow-citizens, 
have also given him an endearing claim to the 
grateful remembrance of his countrymen. 
President Van Buren remained at Cooperstown 
for several days, participating in a cordial and 
friendly interchange of views with other dis- 
tinguished men of that period, who occupied 
the front rank among the jurists and legisla- 
tors of our country — the Hon. Samuel Nelson, 
and Hon. John H. Prentiss — the compeers of 
Fuch men as Story, Kent, Benton, Clay, and 
Webster. Whilst I thus gaze through the 
Tista of the past, and recall this scene, I can 
again see the majestic form of Mr. VanBuren 
mingling in this group, which his calm, com- 
prehensive intellect rules its discussions, and 
gives to its associations the lofty earnestness 
and grandeur which characterized that epoch 
iu our national history : 

"And years, as if by magic flee, 
And leave us iu his grand old time." 

Among the distinguished men who thus 
welcomed President Van Buren to their midst 
at Cooperstown, and with whom that illustri- 
ous statesman then so cordially associated, I 
believe the Hon. Samuel Nelson is now one 
of the latest surviving representatives ; as he 
is, indeed, almost the last representative of 
that more glorious era in the history of our 
country, which with our mourned and departed 
statesmen, has passed away forever. The 
Hon. Samuel Nelson was born in Washington 
county, N. Y. He pursued his studies, and 
graduated at Middlebury College, in Vermont, 
and afterwards read law. In 1817 he com- 
menced the practice of his chosen profession 
in Cortlandt county, N. Y., where by the ex- 
ercise of his brillfant legal abilities he soon 



acquired an extended and permanent forensic 
reputation. He received the appointment of 
Circuit Judge in 182o, and di.'icharged the 
arduous duties attached to this position with 
unsurpassed and rare ability and honor for a 
number of years. Whilst Jlr. Nelson was thus 
engaged in the performance of his labors aa 
Circuit Judge, or about the year 1825, he re- 
moved to Cooperstown. Mr. Cooper here 
married the only daughter of Judge Eussel, 
and made his residence for some time at Apple 
Hill ; but, in 1827, purchasing Fenniraore, lie 
enlarged the house then upon the premises, 
re-modelling it into a commodious and ele- 
gant family mansion. In 1833, Mr. Nelson 
received an appointment to another and still 
more elevated judicial position, being pro- 
moted to the bench of the Supreme Court of 
the State of New York ; and in 1831 he was 
appointed Chief Justice of the State. This 
eminent position, in which Judge Nelson was 
now called to act, ruling by his superior legal 
ability and knowledge the deliberations of 
this august judicial tribunal, has indeed been 
adorned by the labors of several of the most 
learned and distinguished jurists of our land, 
and whose reputation will rival that earned 
by the most illustrious jurists of other lands } 
but the pure and lofty fame which Judge NeK 
son had here so nobly won, the ermine which 
he had thus worn for the period of fifteen 
years, whilst discharging the duties of the most 
exalted judicial position within the State,- in 
its purity, and its simple, majestic grandenr, 
has as yet been unrivalled — yet gathering 
around it the highest forensic glories of our 
State. At the period of the history in our 
State when Judge Nelson received his appoint- 
ment, the State Judiciary sustained a much 
higher position, so far as the ability, sound- 
ness and learning of its members were con^ 
cerned, than it has for the past few yeara. 
The appointing power was then vested in the 
hands of those who brought wisdom and expe- 
rience in making choice of judicial officers : 
but at the present time it is lodged with the 
people — large numbers of whom are ignorant 
of the policy of our laws, and even ignorant 
of the names of the candidates for whom they 
cast their suffrage. This evil— the extension 
of suffrage, or placing the supreme power of 
the state in the hands of ignorant classes, 
who were incapable of exercising this sove- 
reignty in accordance with their own know- 
ledge, but were led and controlled by other 
and more artful men, had been the principal 
cause in accomplishing the ruin and down- 
fall cf the old llepublics, and this evil, in our 
own land, now constitutes the great danger, 
than which none greater can exist, to the sta- 
bility and permanence of our own Republic. 
The Federal Judiciary has always constituted 
the great safeguard not only to the liberties 
and civil rights of the citizens of the Republic, 
but also to the pennanence of the Republic 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHE.MUXG VALLEY, ETC. 



43 



itself. The counsels of this body, as it is 
fornied by the Constit\ition, are subject only 
to the control o'calm iind enlightened reason 
and law, and are swayed neither by the dicta- 
tion of arbitrary authority, nor by popular 
clamor — but, uninfluenced by the excitement 
of the passing hour, applies the fixed princi- 
ples of the Constitution in testing the validity 
of all acts and enactments. In 1845, Judge 
Nelson received appointment as one of tlie 
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the 
United States ; and he has now performed the 
duties of this position for a longer time, and 
the commencement of his official labors dates 
further back than the services of any other 
member of the Supreme Court of the nation. 
Fortunately for the security of American 
liberty, and the stability of our free institu- 
tions and laws, the Supreme Court — from the 
time that Marshall had presided over its de- 
liberations, down to it.s recent sessions — was 
ruled by the master-mind of the eminent 
Chief Justice, Chase, who is alike distinguished 
as a jurist and a statesman — has invariably 
been composed of the ablest jurists, most can- 
did and upright men of our nation. Political 
prejudices and excitements, which have 
swayed other branches of the Government, 
have not influenced this august judicial tribu- 
nal. It is but simply just to say, that, lofty 
as alwaj'S has been the prestige of the Supreme 
Court. It has been amply sustained by the 
eminent legal erudition, the profound and va- 
ried forensic learning, not less than the recog- 
nition of the comprehensive principlees of 
justice in the arbitrament of cases coming un- 
der his jurisdiction, which has ever marked, in 
a pre-eminent degree, the career of the illus- 
trious juri.st — the Hon. Samuel Nelson. The 
judicial opinions, and decisions which have 
been given by Judge Nelson, have always 
been marked by the clear and logical force of 
their arguments, sustained by an unanswer- 
able array of facts, and a profound exposition 
of the principles of constitutional law, and 
addressed to the reason and the judgment, and 
they will take their place in history as 
models of eloquence — majestic and beautiful, 
and unadorned save by their truth and ex- 
haustless learning. In the discussion of the 
legal questions involved in these opinions. 
Judge Nelson has indeed evinced that giant 
grasp of mind, the massive strength of judg- 
ment, the great argumentative power, which 
have so- fully shown the unmatched propor- 
tions of his colossal intellect, and which, ad- 
ded to long experience, has given to Judge 
Nelson the pre-eminent fame as one of tiie 
ablest and wisest, not less than the most 
illustrious jurist now living in our state, or 
in our country. Excepting the time when 
Judge Nelson has been absent to se.ssions of 
the Supreme Court, he has resided at Coopers- 
town, making his home in this pleasant vil- 
lage for the past forty years, well known fui 



his many virtues, the purity and excellence 
of his moral character, and the unobtrusive 
greatness of intellect which give shape to the 
truly eminent character ot this illustrioiis 
man. Long may the village of Cooperstown 
be honored by his living presence, and profit 
by the force of his example; and when ho 
shall depart from earth to be admitt(ul to the 
courts above, the influence of his life will con- 
tinue to endure and gather strength, and his 
own great fame shall indeed ])e immortal — 
and then, the simple fact that his home had 
been in Cooperstown, will ever constitute one 
of the most brilliant honors in its escutcheon 
which history can lecord. 

Among the other distinguished men who 
had welcomed President Van Buren to Coop- 
erstown, in 1839, and had also accompanied 
the great New York statesman from this place 
to Cherry Valley, were the Hon. E. B. More- 
house, and Hon. John H. Prentice— already 
referred to in these papers. Judge Morehouse 
was born at Hillsdale, Columbia Co., N. Y., 
about the year 1791. He came to Coopers- 
town in 1815, here studied law, and entered 
upon the labors connected with his profession, 
which he successfully pursued for many years, 
a portion of this time being engaged as Dis- 
trict Attorney. At the first State election 
under the State constitution of 1846 he was 
elected as Judge of the Supreme Court of the 
State, and drawing for the long term, had six 
years to serve in this capacity, from the 1st of 
January. 1850. But the angel of death camo 
to summon him to the tribunals above. He 
died upon Dec. 16th, 1849. Atameetingof 
the Otsego bar, held socn after his death, re- 
solutions expressive of the loss which the pro- 
fession and the community had sustained, 
were passed. 

The Hon. John H. Prentice was born in 
Worcester, Mass., April 17, 1784. Upon the 
8th of January, 1803, Mr Prentice arrived at 
Cooperstown, and at once established the 
Freeman's Journal, of which he was the editor 
and publisher, with the exception of ten or 
twelve months, until Janunry, 1849. Mr. Pren- 
tice was representative in Congress during the 
four years of President Van Buren's adminis- 
tration, and sustained politically the policy of 
the President. Col. Prentiss had taken a 
prominent part in assisting the worthy enter- 
prises of Otsego County for half a century, and 
was regarded as a leader in public affairs here. 
He died, after an illness of some three months, 
on the 26th day of June, 1861. 

In the year 1828, the Hon. John A Dix pur- 
chased Apple Hill, where Judge Nelson had 
first made his resideence ; but Mr. Dix, on 
removing to Albany at the time of his ap- 
pointment as Adjutant-General of the State of 
New York, sold this delightful place to Levi 
C.Turner, Esq. Judge Turner was boru in 
Claremont, H. H., pursued his studies at 
Dartmouth and Union Colleges, studied law 



44 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHF.JIUNG VALLEY, ETC. 



with the Hon. E. B. Morehouse, of Coopers- 
town, and became a permanent resident of the 
viUage in 1827. Here he married a daughter 
of Robert Campbell, Esq., of Cooperstown. He 
was elected County Judge in 18-35, and was 
again elected to the same office in 1859. He 
coutimied to pursue an honorable and distin- 
i;nished professional career, n\ which he ever 
met with great success, until the period of his 
recent lamented decease. 

The Hon. Schuyler Crippen, a native of 
Worcester, Otsego County, N. Y., where he 
rchided and practiced law, removed to Coop- 
erstown in 1836, and here continued in the 
snccessfal prosecution of the labors of his pro- 
fession for many years. In 1851 he was elected 
to the Bench of the Supreme Court of the 
ytate of New York, to fill the unexpired term, 
then four years, of the Hon. E. B. Morehouse, 
deceased. 

Robert Campbell, Esq., whose name has 
been previously mentioned in these annals, 
had been known for the period of some forty- 
five years, as one of the ablest lawyers in the 
village of Cooperstown, and above all this, as 
an honest man — "the noblest work of God." 
Mr. Campbell was born in Cherry Valley, m 
1782- He pursued his studies and graduated 
at Union College, came to Cooperstown in 
1802, and soon earned, by his professional la- 
bors as a lawyer, not less from the soundness 
of his views than from the marked integrity of 
his character, a distinguished place among the 
prominent lawyers of Otsego County ; and he 
maintained this enviable position till his de- 
cease. Mr. Robert Campbell belonged to the 
very justly distinguished Campbell family of 
Cherry Valley. His brother, the Hon. James 
8. Campbell, previously named, is still living, 
being now in the 'J6th year of his age, and his 
mental faculties still remain good, though his 
body gradually yields to the pressure of years, 
now filling nearly a century of time, llie 
Campbell family had originally come from 
Scotland, in the early part of the eighteenth 
century. 'J'he Campbells, a name celebrated 
in history and song, trace back their genea- 
logy over a thous«ind years, and belonged to 
tlie powerful clan of Argyle. Some years 
since, a nephew of Robert Campbell, the Hon. 
Wm. W. Campbell, of Cherry Valley, visited 
the purple, heather-clad hiils of the land of 
bis ancestors. While making this sojourn in 
Scotland, the Celtic Society held its festival 
upon the lawn near the ancient castle of the 
Duke of Argyle ; and its members gave to Mr. 
Campbell a true Scottish welcome. The Presi- 
dent of the Society, in a beautiful address, 
stated that a wanderer from the ancestral 
Hock had now returned to the land of his 
fathers, and was now among this gathering of 
his clan — and moved that he be elected an 
honorary member of the Society. This mo- 
tion was enthusiastically carried by acclama- 
o,ition, the health of the new. member drank 



with highland honors — each chieftain carrying 
hisaiass around his head with the righthand, 
repeating in Gaulish, '• Neish. neish, sheel ora, 
iM'ifsh !" — and then, the old Piper struck up 
the tunc of the song of the clan at the meet- 
ing in 174C — 

" 0, youTc long in coining, hut you're welcome." 
The Campbell family, from the remote pe- 
riod of 1741, when Mr. James Campbell (the 
grandfather of Robert Campbell, Esq ) re- 
moved from Londonderry. N. H. , and with 
several of his compagnnns du voyage, came to 
the vicinity of Cherry Valley, and here formed 
the pioneer settlement in this region, down to 
the present time, wlien this branch of the 
ancient clan, whose home had once been amid 
the far hills of Argyleshire, are now repre- 
sented by such nobie men as William W. 
Campbell, etc., have always maintained a 
prominent and justly distinguished position, 
alike in social and political relations, within 
Otsego County. 

Among other gentlemen of considerable dis- 
tinction, who have been residents of Coopers- 
town during longer or shorter periods of time, 
I may name Hon. George Morell, Gen. Jacob 
Morris, Richard Cooper, Esq., etc. The reader 
has already inferred, from the names of dis- 
tinguished families who have been referred to 
as residents of Cooperstown, that this pleasant 
rural village should pos.sess an established and 
refined class of society. This has indeed been 
the fact from an early date in the settlement 
of the village, and it is now the only place, 
perhaps, among the country towns, whose in- 
habitants, or the more cultivated portion of 
them, possess those high moral and intellec- 
tual endowments, the virtuous principles and 
refined tastes which unite in forming true ex- 
cellence of character, and by which indivi- 
duals can properly, in their associated capa- 
city, be recognized as Society. For it will be 
clearly seen, that aside from this elevated 
standaid which recognizes true womanhood 
and true manhood as constituted by Nature, 
and nnpervei-ted by false education — the love 
of the Beautiful, which is implanted in the 
mind of every individual fashion in the image 
of the Creator, and by which man is alone 
distinguished from the brutes, (for the ani- 
mals all enjoy eating, drinking, sleeping, the 
warmth of their coats, locomotive, enjoyment 
of the senses, as well as man), and without 
mankind possessed this higher faculty, the 
divine attribute of communing with the True 
and Beautiful, it need not be argued that it is 
just as impossible that they can be constituted 
as Society, as it is for the brutes to be thus or- 
ganized. The village of Cooperstown, in 
which many of the most worthy and accom- 
plished families of our country have resided 
has always sustained an honorable pre-emi- 
nence in this respect : its society, alike in the 
pure tastes and exemplary associations which 
it has fostered, has ever aimed to be aristocrats, 



I I3T0RICAI, SKETCH OF THE CHEMUXG VAU.P.V. KTC. 



45 



— adopting as its only test the truthful, almost 
inspired words : 

"A man's a man, for a' that." 

This state of ^fxiety, refined and of hifrh 
moral tone, hy which the villa,u:e of C<)oi)ers- 
town stands so pre-eminently distinguished, is 
in striking contrast with that pretentious, 
sham aristocracy which starts up in every 
little village, as well as in cities, and which is 
composed of well-dressed fools, — hrainless fops. 
who can boast of a certain class of crimes and 
vicious indulgence, together with silly, sim- 
pering votaries of fashion, whose papas chance 
to have a pile of "Oreenhacks" laid up— none 
of whom are intellectually, and certainly not 
morally, above the level of the brutes. It is 
this despicable, disgusting mushroom aris- 
tocratic society, which so justly excites die 
ridicule of all refiued society, either of America 
or Europe. 

I have now only to trace one other interest- 
ing episode in the annals of Cooperstown. 
This rural village has been tlie home, not 
only of the illustrious jtirists whose public ca- 
reer I have already iinpertectiy traced, but 
likewise of the great American novelst, — 
J. FennimoreCoo\)er, Esq.,— v.ho occupied the 
fi'ont rank among the most eniincDt literary 
men of all lands and of all time, and whose 
imperishable works will carry the name of 
this village, whei-e he resided, down to the re- 
motest age in the roll of future time. 

J. Fennimore Cooper was born September 
15th, 1719, at Burlington, N. J. In October, 
1770, then between two and three years of 
age, be was brought by his parents to the vici- 
nity of Otsego lake, and his early boyhood 
years were passed in Cooperstown. It is said 
that he delighted in all manly sports, ridmg, 
shooting, fishing, skating, etc., and he found 
pleasurable excitement amid the wildwoods 
surrounding his highland home, or in trinr- 
niing the sails or handling the oars of his boat 
upon the waters of the Otsego lake. The ac- 
tive, impetuous, and generous boy is next 
sent to the school of Rev. Mr. Ellison, at Al- 
bany, where he made rapid progress, and at 
the early age of thirteen years he was admitted 
to Yale College. Young Fennimo're Cooper 
remained at college three years ; then, obey- 
ing the impulses of his earnest, impetuous 
temperament, he went to sea, making his 
earliest voyage to England. In 1805 he en- 
tered the American navy, first in the cipacity 
of midshipman, from which he was soon pro- 
moted to the office of lieutenant. Cooper fol- 
lowed the sea for four years. In 1811, having 
previously resigned his position in the navy, 
Fennimore Cooper returned to New York, 
and marrying Miss Su.san Delancy, they first 
made their home at Seasdale, Westchester 
county, where Cooper found employment and 
pleasure in improving a farm, landscape gar- 
dening, and in literary pursuits. While here, 
Ue wrote the first chapter of his earliest novel, 



Precaution, mainly for his own amusement at 
the time, hut reading it to his wife, she urged 
him to proceed with the stcjiy. wliieh he, thus 
sanctioned iiy her approval, accordingly did. 
I believe this novel, the earliest literary ])ro- 
duction of his gifted pen, was published in 
1820. This early work, though containing 
some blemishes, nevertheless gave brilliant 
promise of tlie surpassing genius and excel- 
lence which the author in after years so emi- 
nently evinced. This novel was quite favo- 
rably received in America and also in Europe. 
It was, almost the first among American 
hooks, very fav(uably reviewed by the Eng- 
lish pie.^s. One imblication, speaking of the 
fiew work, said : " Whoever may be the 
writer, we have to congratulate the public on 
the accession of a novelist possessing a peculiar 
felicity of talent for this species of composi- 
tion." This Novel appeared at an oppoi tune 
time in regard to giving the nanie <f our 
country a place in the literature of the world. 
England, and other nations of Euro|ie, had 
hitherto denied that our country possesse'l 
any literary talent — a short time previous to 
the issue ol Cooper's works, a prominent Eng- 
lish Review asking : "Who, in the four quar- 
ters of the globe, reads an American book?" 
J. Fennimore Cooper thus v<ilunteeied to as- 
sert, and to sustain by unanswerable proof, 
the reputation ofhis country in the world of 
letters ; and which he afterwards continued 
to maintain by his genius and remarkable in- 
tellectual powers. 

It may be said that the works of Cooper 
have been translated into a greater number 
of foreign languages than the writings of any 
other author, either of this or of foreign lands. 
The issue of his first novel '•Precaution," 
showed the earliest impulses in the genuine, 
vigorous existence of American literature. 
Wirt had written and published some able and 
fascinating productions. Charles Brockdeu 
Brown had also written several novels, as 
" Wieland," etc., which, although neglected 
by the reading world, still, in the mysterious 
gloom and interest which the author flung 
around these delineations of life amia the 
crowded streets of cities and thoroughfares of 
human existence, evinced an unusual order of 
talent. But, the publication of Cooper's ear- 
lier tales was the first precursor to the brilliant 
and solid triumphs of American literature. It 
was about this period, the time when "Pre- 
caution," and his second novel, " The Spy," 
was published, (in 1820-21)— that several other 
meritorious works by American authors, as the 
"Sketch Book,'' by Washington Irving ; "The 
Idle Man," by Pdchard Henry Uana, which 
continue among our classical works in prose, 
were issued ; and in the same year that "The 
Spy" was sent to the press, in 1821, the first 
edition of poems by Fitz Greene Halleck, and 
also by William Cullen Bryant, were pub- 
lished— thsee poets, together with George D, 



u 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG VALLEY, ETC. 



Prentice, still luaitit I Ang their proud pre- 
eminence as the three most splendidly en- 
dowed, most eminent and illustrious poets of 
our own land— and now, wlit,n Byron, and 
Moore, and IScott, and Goethe have passed 
away, and no longer illuminate by the litcl't 
of their genius the world of song — the-e three 
Ameiiean anthor«, this immortal triumvirate, 
now liold the {)re-eminent rank as the greatest 
and most distinguished poets of our age. The 
resplendent glory which their genius has flung 
around American literature, the lustre which 
it has shed around tlie name of our country, 
however, has heen amply stistained by the 
poetical productions of Miss Phehia Carey ai*;l 
Miss Alice Carey, and also hy Willis. Dana, 
Bayarti Taylor, T. B. Reade, Holmes, Whittier 
and Saxe. 

And, in the fascinating department of lite- 
rature where Cooper first led the way, and 
had axiquired such wide and resplendent fiime. 
such brilliant writers of fiction as Edgar Allen 
Poe, Nathaniel flawthoine. Miss H. E. Pres- 
cott, Herman Melvilic, George William Cur- 
tis, John P. Kennedy, W. G. Sims, and R. H. 
Dana, Jr. have labored with eminent success, 
and won the enduring laurels of fame. 

In the department of historical writing, the 
great and illustrious liistorian, George Ban- 
croft, Esq., justly occupies the most eminent 
position ; and, in the unequalled value of his 
material, and the elaborate manner in which 
his comprehensive genius has given it shape in 
rearing the immortal temple of American 
history, he stands alone— in the unrivalled 
grandeur of his intellect unapproached and 
unsipproachable, and he has nobly earned the 
laurels of enduring fame— has won the lofty 
pre-eminence as the ablest and most illustrious 
historian of our age, not less than of all time. 

I am aware that there are many who object 
to the particular department of writing which 
J. Fennimore Cooper has chosen, because it is 
mainly fiction — romance ; but, I can well say, 
that so faar as my own researches have ex- 
tended, his several tales whose scenes are laid 
within the section of Central New York, as 
"The Spy," "Pioneers," "Last of the Mohi- 
cans," "Path Finder," "Deer Slayer," etc., 
more truthfully illustrate our early history, 
when the red man and the pioneer shared in 
the occupation of our country, and better de- 
scribes the character of either the Indian or 
the harey emigrant, than is done in any of the 
professed histories, or narratives of events 
transactetl in this region — perhaps excepting 
the very reliable work written by Mr. Camp- 
bell, the "Annals of Tryou County." 

In fact, the early years of Cooper's life, 
which were passed amid the wilds of Otsego, 
in frequent association with the aboriginal 
occupants of the forest, and the rough settlers 
here and there found amid the new clearings, 
)iad furnished the material from which his 
genius, like some fairy Ariel, so faithfully re- 



produced the exact images and pictures of 
pioneer life, and so faithfully delineated the 
real charncteristics of both the red man and 
the primitive settler. He has truthfully de- 
lineated human life as it actually existed, and 
has aconately described the piciures^que sce- 
nery ot this region of the State, the vicinity of 
Otsego lake and the Susquehanna ; and it is 
certainly not material that the novelist should 
have adopted, in designating the various per- 
sons represented in his nanatives by the precise 
names of living individuals. 

It is asserted that Enoch Crosby, who lived 
at Southeast, Dutchess, (now Putnam) Co., at 
the time of the Revolution, was the individual 
from whom Cooper drew the fictitious charac- 
ter of Harvey Birch, in the "Spy" ; and Timo- 
thy Murphy, the Virginia rifleman, whose un- 
erring aim had sent the bullet which termi- 
nated the life of General Frazier, at Saratoga — 
formed the original of one of fhe characters 
represented in Cooper's works ; while Ship- 
man, the hunter and fisherman of the Otsego 
region, was the real individual from whom the 
masterly delineratiou of Leatherstocking is 
drawn. 

The novelist has faithfully described real 
life ; and he has clothed his narratives with 
not more of the gorgeous coloring of Romance 
than actual lite very frequently gives to tho 
changing scenes which we encounter, not more 
of romance than many, those indeed who have 
a soul capable of the emotions of passion, re- 
alize in their daily existence. And the deline- 
ation of the passion of love has held its spell 
over the pen of the novelist and poet, and 
held in its enchantment the interest of the 
reader, from the earliest era of human exist- 
ence, and will continue thus to assert its 
power while time shall endure. The passioa 
of love, while it is the most intense and ab- 
sorbing sentiment which can actuate the hu- 
man breast, is, at the same time, one of the 
purest and holiest, in its impulses and aspira- 
tions, which can thrill the bosom ; it is a sen- 
timent, a feeling, which is always pure — altho' 
it becomes so often improperly confounded 
with a debased animal appetite, to which it is 
as unlike and far removed as Paradise from 
Pluto's realm. 

It is sometimes objected, that the persons 
represented in these stories are placed in situ- 
ations which they might use for wrongful pur- 
pose ; but, I should imagine that little confi- 
dence should be placed in the virtuous prin- 
ciples of those who refrained from vice simply 
because no opportunity presented for its indul- 
gennce. The pure in heart will remain pure, 
and stainless of sin, under whatever circum- 
stances they may be placed. 

The delineations of the passion of love, 
given by Cooper, are drawn with a masterly 
hand, are drawn from nature and from life. 
Over the fascination pages where he describes 
Mabel Dunham, Elizabeth Temple, etc., etc., 



ttlStORtCAL .SItETCtt OF TFIE CHEMUN'G VALl-KY, ETC. 



47 



over the romantic episofles woven amid tliese 
heroines of boviifr-lilo -tlie f;iir maiden long 
will lingevi with glowing anil wiliHy-bcating 
heart, until aha pillows her soft cheek iii)on 
these enchanting pages in slnmher, but with 
her dreams, bathed with love's rosy light, 
only to return and dwell amid the fairy so-iies 
described in these vol unites. Perhaps no other 
author has so truthfully delineated the noble 
seutiment of Friend^^hip, as it sometimes ex- 
ists in real life ; nor, in all the range of fiction, 
can there be found a character, more original 
in its conception, in its delineation or masti-rly 
noble, generous, and pure, in the qualities 
•with which it is invested, than the Lealiier- 
htocking— a character which the rare genius 
of the novelist has successfully, and with con- 
stantly increasing interest, carried through 
five different stories, "The Pioneers," "The 
Liist of the Mohicans," "The Prairie," "The 
Pathfinders," and "The Deer Slayer." 

In Cooper's first romance of the gca, "The 
Pilot," the character of Tom CofiiM, and also 
of Bolthorpe, are drawn with scarcely less 
vigor than his finest touches of pioneer life. 
In his various tales of the sea, "'Jhe Pilot," 
"Red Kover," "Two Admirals," "Wing-and- 
Wing," "Afloat and Ashore," "The Water 
Witch," etc., which are illustrated with the 
bold and striking mragery borrowed from his 
own adventurous life upon the ocean for six 
years, he has given inimitable descriptions of 
the beauty and grandeur which haunts the 
sea, and truthfully described the romantic ca- 
reer of the hardy, generous seamen. In the 
class of his novels relating to the sea, Cooper 
has no rival. 

I cannot d>vell upon the various novels of 
this great author. Commencing with the 
publication of "Precaution," in 1820, and 
terminating with the "Ways of the Hour," iu 
1850, including in this time the production of 
thirty-nine different tales, all of them marked 
by strong originality, and the larger portion 
bearing the impress of unequalled genius and 
intellectual power. 

■ The residence of J. Fennimore Cooper, iu 
Westchester county, after his mairiage con- 
tinued for some length of time. He then re- 
moved to Cooperstown, and passed several 
years upon his place near the beautiful Otsego 
lake ; and about the year 1818, he removed, 
with his family, to Xew York city, and while 
there, associated with the most emiuent men 
of the nation, as Chancellor Kent, Durand, 
whose name has been rendered illustrious as 
the first artist of our age ; President King, of 
Columbia College, Verplanck, Bryant and 
Halleck, who then, as now, ranked as the first 
poets of our land, etc. 

In 1826, the year in which ihc "Last of the 
Jlohicans" was published, Cooper went with 
liis'family to Europe, and made his residence 
for some time in Paris, where he associated 
upon terms of intimate friendship w'itli the 



Marquis de LaFayette, and other distinguished 
men of France. 

In 18o3, after a sojourn of seven years in 
various countries of Europe, but residing prin- 
cipally in France, Cooper returned to the Uni- 
ted States. He afterwards pnUlished a seriea 
of graphic and inti'iesting sketches relating to 
the various countries in Europe which he had 
visited, in a work of eight voUimes. Soon 
after his return from Europe, Cooper made 
his permanent home in the village of Coopers- 
town, at the old family residence— the Hall — 
upon the Routl)i;rn bci'der of the Otsego lake. 
Here he employed his time in literary pur- 
suits, generally writing during the earlier por- 
tion of the day, and in agricultural employ- 
ments. 

The mind of Conper was fond of solitude, 
and iie was very rarely seen iu the crowded 
streets or in places of public resort, for he pre- 
ferred to have the indulgence of his own medi- 
tations. The man of genius js never alone, 
for at his bidding the air is thronged with 
fairy shapes, with angelic beings many and 
beautiful. And thus the great novelist passed 
his time in the quiet seclusion of the home 
circle, or in rambling amid the solitary woods 
which bordered the lovely Otsego lake, and in 
these lonely hours gathering the thoughts, the 
inspirations, which he afterwards infused into 
his works, and which should electrify and 
hold spell-bound with their potent charms the 
minds of millions throughout the wide globe. 
This love of retirement and solitude seems to 
be a peculiar characteristic of great and capa- 
cious intellects, as, for instance, Lord Byrou 
and Daniel Webster — both of these remark- 
able men passing most of their leisure hours 
alone amid the grandeur of mountain solitude 
in solitary musings by the side of the mag- 
nificent and mighty ocean. 

Wliile residing near Otsego lake. Cooper 
continued his literary labors, writing his 
sketches and novels. From the earnest at- 
tachment which he felt for this pursuit, and 
the pleasure which he derived from it, — with 
such a mind as he possessed, when thus en- 
gaged in literary effort, and with every nerve 
of his being thrilled with intensest emotion, 
and pleasure, he enjoyed in a single hour a 
greater amount of happiness — more of the 
real, exhilirating pleasure of life than mil- 
lionaires can possibly do in the entire course 
of their sordid existence. 

Cooper had become possessed of a moderate 
amount of means from his father's estate ; but 
fortunately he relied upon his own resources 
of mind and active exertions, while in early 
life, and his manly character, his earnest, ro- 
bust feelings and sensibilities were thus deve- 
loped and mature I. The illustrious German 
poet, Goethe, has very truthfully remarked 
that it was the great misfortune ot Lord Byron 
that he inherited the wealth connected with 
his peerage. Large riches certainly never 



48 



nrsTiimcAf- sivRtch of the cnEMCNG valley, etc. 



benefitted miy nian, Imt have the invaiiable 
(.effect of (lest toyiiifj: all healtliy and genevoas 
impulses of the liuniaii bdsoiii. 

Cooper was a man oi eaineat, positive nature 
and tetuperasrieut, impulsive and deeided in 
his convictions, of robust feelings and warm 
affections-- sincL'ie and plain in his likes and 
dislikes ; and alihoring all dieguise, he was 
always frank in the expression of his opinions. 

He had the manlim-ss and couriige to lead a 
true and honest life, governed by strict moral 
principles and devout religious sentiment — 
and hence it will not be surprising, that in 
these times when it is necessary that a person 
commit some crime in order to become popu- 
lar witii the crowd, that Ciioper haii to battle 
with such Lifter and malicious enmity. But 
Jn all pM.st time, as now, the noble, self-sacri- 
ticing martyr who gives the ert'urts and labors 
of hi8 life to advance tne happiness of man- 
kind, must be content to wear the crown of 
thorns, ere his brow can be twined with the 
wreath of laurel, the immortal crown of fame' 
whose leaves shall continue ever fadeless, and 
fresh in their beauty through the long- 
elapsing years of eternal time. 

Cooper, like all other men of great intellect 
and great soul, had his faults. But, a man 
should be judged by what he actually posses- 
ses — by tiie virtues of his character, rather 
than by its deficiencies or defe:;ts. History, 
indeed, has ever shown, that the man possess- 
ing the greatest endowment of talent and the 
greatest virtues, have also the greatest faults, 
the strongest passions— blending in their cha- 
racrer, and requiring control. And is it not 
to teach us that among all the exalted beings 
who have appeared upon earth, one alone has 
been faultless : — that Jesus Christ, among all 
who have worn the human form upon earth, 
should be reverenced and worshipped as God. 

Cooper is now gone. He has passed away 
forever. During the year 1861, his health, 
which had continued robust up to this period, 
began to fail. In April, 1851, the distinguished 
physician. Dr. J. W. Francis, had been con- 
sulted in regard to the alarming symptoms 
which were presented, but Cooper's physical 
frame continued still further to yield to the 
influence of disease through the summer 
months, that to him were now bringing their 
fragrance and bloom as the last ofl'ering which 
they might give. He was surrounded by a 
kind and affectionate family, among whom 
was his amanuensis, his gifted and accom- 
plished daughter, the authoress of " Rural 
Hours," Bliss Susan J. Cooper. And thus 
Bur'ounded by all that affection could ask, 
and cheered by the Divine consolations of 
religion, upon a calm Sabbath day, September 
14th, 1851, J. Fennimore Cooper departed 
this mortal life. 

As the sad intelligence of the decease of the 
great man who had long occupied so large a 
space in the public mind, so long been one of 



the brightest ornaments of our literature, 

passed over our land, it filled the country 
with mourning. Various public meetings* 
were held, exjjressive of the general grief ; 
among them, one of the largest and most im- 
pressive in its character, assembled at Metro- 
politan Hall, New York, on the evening of 
the 25th of February, 1852. This meeting 
was composed of the ablest and most illustri- 
ous men of all our land. Irving, and Ban- 
croft, and Curtis were there. Daniel Web- 
ster, the great .'NTew England statesman, was 
called to preside over this unusual assem- 
blage, and delivered, on taking the chair, an 
appropriate and eloquent address ; while the 
great and distinguished poet, Wm. Cullen 
Bryant, pronounced a discourse commemora- 
tive of the life and character of the lamented 
Fennimore Cooper. And in regard to this 
oration, I cun only say, that it was a worthy 
and fitting tribute to the career of the illus- 
trious deceased. 

The flowers which spring up and cover the 
graves of the departed, also cover the remem- 
brance of their frailties — while all that had 
claimed our love in the living character of the 
lamented dead shal go down to claim the 
admiration of posterity. So long as exalted 
genius, nobleness of soul, and purity of moral 
character shall command the admiration and 
sway the impulses of the human heart, that 
illustrious name, J. Fennimore Cooper, will be 
honored, and reverenced and loved. 



CHAPTER VII. 

In returning to the region of Newtown, I 
will pause one moment at Tioga Point — and 
briefly refer to the council which was held at 
this place in November, 1790. 'J his council, 
I find, was called in consequence of the mur- 
der of two of the Senecas on Pine Creek, and 
with a view to settle the difficulty. Colonel 
Timothy Pickering, who then resided at Wyo- 
ming, represented the U. S. Government. 

The council commenced on the Kith of No- 
vember, and continued until the 23rd of the 
same month. 'J'he famous Mohican chief, 
Hendrick, Apaumet, who had received a clas- 
sical education at Princeton, N. S., and waa 
captain of a band of Plousatonic Indians in the 
Picvolutionary war : he afterwards lived near 
Catharines town, and was taken care of during 
his last illness, about the year 1798, by Mr. 
Thomas Nichols, and buried near a huckle- 
berry swamp lying upon the east side of the 
present village of Havana, N. Y.); --together 
with Red Jacket, (Asrogyoyawauthan.) Far- 
mer's Brother (Honayavvus), and Fish-Carrier, 
(Oojaugenta), who was a distinguished warrior 
of the Cayuga«!. 

The Indians came to this council very much 
excited, *and were still further exasperated 
and inflamed by the eloquent, artful speech 



HISTORICAL SKEfdn OF THE CtlEMUxNG VALLEY, ETC. 



43 



of Red-Jacket,. This chief, who now first ac- 
quired distinction as an orator, brought up 
the controveisy between the Iroquois and 
Phelps & Gorham, relative to the sale of 
the lands of the Six Nations, at Fort Stanwix, 
in October, 1784. HoWs^Ver, Colonel Picliel'ing 
Bdcceeded in quieting the difficulty. 

In December of the same year in which this 
council met at Tioga, 1790, a deputation of 
the Six Nations met at Pliiladelphia, to re- 
monstrate against the treaty made at Fort 
titanwix, which was still in existence ; and 
the chiefs here invoked the aid of Gen. Wash- 
ington, whom they termed Hanondagauius, 
to arrange the affair. A note, signed by Gen. 
Knox, Secretary of War, 20th December, 1791, 
Bays : "The Corn-Planter, a war captaiti of 
tlie Senecas, and other Indians of the same 
tribe, being in Philadelphia, in Deer., 1790, 
measures were taiien to induce their inter- 
ference with the Western tribes to prevent 
further hostilities, and an arrangement was 
"made that Corn-Planter should accompany 
■Col. Thomas Proctor on a visit to the Miami 
Villages, for that purpose. j 

Farther measures were taken in April, 1791, 
to draw the Six-Nations to a contereuce at a 
tlistance from the theatre of war, and Colonel 
Pickering was appointed to hold the confer- 
lence. It was decided to be held at Painted 
Post, on the 17th of June, 1791 ; but. from 
the papers returned to the War Department, 
it seems to have been held at Newtown Point. 
Many of the early pioneers in the Chemung 
Valley had distinctly remembered circum- 
stances connected with tnis Council. The In- 
dians, who had assembled to kindle the coun- 
cil-fire here, in great numbers, were encamped 
along the western patt of Newtown, their 
tents ranging from the place where the Brain- 
ard House now stands, to the upper portion of 
the present city of Elmira. 

Among the early pioheers in the Chemtmg 
Valley, who ivere present at this Council w'Cte 
Mathias Hollenback, Elisha Lee, Elea^er 
Lindley, and William Jenkins. The treaty 
was negociated beneath the shade of a tree, 
which afterwards became known as tiie "Old 
Council Tree. It had stood on the spot, now 
near the corner of Cross and Conangue streets, 
upon the lot at present occupied by Mr. Hec- 
tor Seward, and the tree remained standing 
until a recent time, when it was cut down by 
Mr. Seward. This council of 1791— the treaty 
formed at Newtown— at w'hich Colonel Timo- 
thy Pickering, in behalf of the United States. 
and Corn-Planter (Kiantwauka) and Kcd- 
Jacket, with other eminent sachems of the 
Iroquois, were present, and engaged in the 
discussions around the council-fire— indeed 
holds a memorable place in history. It was 
at this council that l\ed-.Jackct had shown 
those remarkable powers, by which he after- 
yrard held such complete supi'cmacy over the 



Senecas, and became the leading or dominant 
chief in that tribe. 

I may add that Timothy Pickering, Esq. t 
who represented the American Government 
here, possessed great powers of parsuasion, 
while he had acquired the tact of exerting a 
remarkable influence over the Indians, by 
which he was enabled successfully^to conclude 
this treaty at Newtown. Col. Pickering, in 
command of a body of men at Salem, Mass., 
in February, 1795," was among the earliest of 
the patriots at that period to oppose, by force* 
British invas.on. At the time of the battle of 
Lexington, inarching with his regiment to in- 
tercept the enemy, dtiring Washington's cam- 
paign ih New Jersey) Pickering was associated 
with the Cammander-in-chief in the perilous 
conflicts of that period, holding the rank and 
position of Adjutant-General. In 1780, ho 
held the appointment of Quartermaster-Gene- 
ral. In connection with Washington's admin- 
istratioti. Col. Pickering received appointment 
as Postmaster-General, in 1791, and upon the 
resignation of Gen. Knox as Secretary of War, 
he was assigned that position, which he occu- 
pied until 1795, when President Washington 
appointed him Secretary of State, which he 
held until the close of Washingtcw's adminis-. 
tration in 1800. ]\Ir. Pickering Was chosen . 
United States Senator from his native State, 
Massachusetts, in 1803, and again in 1805. He 
died at Salem, Mass., in 1829, aged eighty- 
seven years. , 

At a" distance of some two miles west of EN 
raira, is an eminence, known as Fort Hill, and 
where can be traced the remains of a fortifica- 
tion. This eminence is upon the north side of 
the Chemung river, while the opposite side is 
bordered by a deep ravine— forming a pre- 
cipitous headland. An embankment, acrme 
fourteen or fifteen feet wide at its base, and 
three feet in elevation, extends from the brow 
of the ravine inaNorthein direction to the 
summit of the bank resting upon the river, 
and is some two hundred feet in length. This 
artificial wall of earth has an outer ditch, to- 
gether with two slight trenches, running para- 
lell with the ancient bastion across the entire! 
width of this bold eminence. This earthwork, 
undoubtedly constructed for warlike purposes, 
however, presents an appearance indicating a 
more recent construction than the "Ancient 
Works of Western New York," which tho 
writer of this sketch had surveyed in the yeaf 
1850, under authority of the Regents of the 
University of the State of New York. 

This entrenchment near Elmira occupies an 
admirable position for defense, as it is only 
accessible Irom a single direction, a military 
engineer would not have evinced gteater stra- 
tegical art in the construction of tliis defensivef 
earthwork. The furtification liere may have 
been, probably, reared by the Iroquois during 
the period of "early French expeditions Jntoi 
the territory of the Six Nations. 



59 



h:sto?vIca^. sKETCir of TEfnr cH'EfJitrNG valley, fixe. 



I BVAj here remark that while prosecuthig 
these researches relative to the history of this 
valley, I received infonuation of an extensive 
series of ancient earthworks located npon the 
tributary streams of the Susquehanna and the 
Delaware, while it is known that a large num- 
ber of Indian mounds, etc., are situated in 
other portions of the State. It is only through 
a full and complete survey of th«se fastperiah- 
ing memorials of former empfre,- these rapidly 
decaying monuments which now aiford the 
eiily record of that race that once occupied and 
ji.ttj.d sovereignty of our soil, by a rfgitt investi- 
giji-tion and scientific research of the entire sub- 
ject, an its archadogical, ethnological and his- 
torical! .relations, that we may hope to be able 
toTescue An instructive chapter in the anftals 
ofthepa^t from oblivion, or cast any light 
upon tne liiatory of the State during its occu- 
pancy by tUeoiiound-builders— while possibly 
such an explqi-fition might unravel the iuys- 
tery as to their origin and fate, and be the 
means of perpetuating, before these ancient 
mouads and eartluvorks are all effaced, some 
reliable record of the Ante-Columbian period 
in the history of oiu' lo^d. 

I will now "attempt to give a brief review of 
the Iroquois oecupatiou ^^f the region em- 
braced in these tiistqiical eofitiiries. 

. Jeft'ersoK, whose philosophical mind gave 
profound investigatVo^s to ^e^yily every de- 
partment of human knowledge, in his "'Notes 
on Virginia," in giying i.he list of the Indian 
tribes, their location and- numbers, in 1779, 
makes the following statement : . '/Cayugas 
on the Cayuga Jake and near branc^h cf Sus- 
<iuehanna, 220; Senecas, on the waters of the 
Susquehanna, Ontario, and ii^adof Ohio, Gt>0." 
The portion of the Indian tribes wlib in- 
habited the valley, and ranged the adjoining 
hills, between the Chemung river and Seneca 
Lake, at the time of Sullivan's expedition, 
were principally Cayugas, Tuscarora and Se- 
_;iecas. The Indian king., Canadesaga, of the 
•^.enecas, was killed at the battle of Chemung. 
" TJkis region was common hunting ground to 
. all the Six-I'fations. When it began to be 
; setifed by emigrantt. from the East, in 1788, 
, lai^c numbers of Indians still resided between 
\ tUeilaie and the river. It was at this period, 
^?j •h'Cji £-he Iroquois coinacils were graced by the 
prese»c>3 of so man}' distlngiushed chiefs, that 
EedTJaeket began to acquire and exercise his, 
niuwaled ascendency among the Iroquois. 

I will here make an extract from a JI.SS. of 
the late Hon. Thomas Maxwell, who had held 
tlie rank and exercised the authority of a Sa- 
ciiem among the Sesiiecas, in which he thus 
refers to lled-Jacket, .etc. : "The once haughty 
Iroquois has withdribwato a quiet spot on the 
western skirts of Uiti lordly patrimony. He no 
longer, as in tlie diuys, ofjiis power, holds ,the 
olive -brand) in onchand, and the tomahawk 
in tne other, to sYii;,y,.t,he^-^eciHipns of Goui^cils. 
'J'liej have produced JU a uj distingu'.^ihcd men. 



Among these none were m.orp eminent than, 
the celebrated E.ed-Jacket. He exhibited, 
great powers of oratory at the Treafy, hei'c.^ by 
Col. Pickering, at Newtown Point, in 1791, 
Red-Jacket, who had always opposed all at- 
tempts to civilize or Christianize the tribes, 
exhibited on this occasion his greatest powers 
of mind', in opposition to the propo.'sals of the 
Govenrment ; and the result was, they were 
only accepted by Cornplanter's tribe. In a 
conversation held with Red Jacket, at Bath, 
in 1828, he informed me that when a child, he 
was present at a great Council-Fife of the 
Tribes, at Shenandoah, in Virginia. The Va-- 
rions nations were represented by their most 
distinguished orators, but the greatest among 
them was Logan, a Cayuga, who had removed 
from his residence on the Cayuga to Shamo- 
kin, on the tSusquehanna. Red-Jacket re- 
marked that he was so highly delighted with 
Logan' :;• eloquence, that he resolvecf to devote 
himself to public speaking and to' follow Lo- 
gan as bis model. He said that he t.'as in the 
habit of speaking in the woods wherehe cotild 
find a waterfall, where he exercised his voice 
amid the roaring waters, to acquire the neces- 
sary command and tone to address large as- 
semblies. One ef his favorite resorts for this 
purpose was the magnificent waterfall at Ha- 
vana. The name of the tftreara was She-qma- 
gah — or, as be interpreted it, "the phice of 
the roaring waters." The waterfall aeems tc 
have been his peculiar inspiration. In' early 
life the beautiful She-qua-gah, and in his Ma- 
ture years the mighty Ne-au-ga-rah, {Ic give 
his own pronunciation,)' were his favorite 
haunts. =■■' * =■■•' There are certain qualities' 
of mind exhibited in the untutored Indian, 
which shine forth in all the lustre of natural 
perfection. His simple mtegrlty, his gene- 
rosity, his unbounded hospitality, his love of" 
Jruth, and his unwavering fidelity, are g.raceB' 
of humanity which neither education can im- 
part, nor civilization confer ; and when- they 
exiet, it is because the gifts ©f Peit'sc have' 
neKQr .been perverted." 

;^^he jv.riter of this sketch, too, has ha,d some- 
ppportunity to become conversant with In/di'ani 
life. He has sojourned for weeks, during-' 
,which he had not seen civilized man, amidsf 
the rude children of the forest, he has lain 
down to secure repose in the night-camp of 
the Indian, around the lire Avhich they had 
hindled in the v. ildwoods— he has accompa- 
nied the Indian hunter upon the chase, and 
has been guided by .the Indian maiden through 
the pathless forest— and can most fully reite- 
rate the opinion as to t|ie prevailing feature.'? 
of the Indian character e.ipressed in the manu- 
script from which I have above quoted ; and 
in fearless, frank honesty of purpose, in 
genuine, unpretending iioblc!;ess, of feeling, 
in the abidin.g love and worship with which 
he clings to the sacred associktiojg^i: 3,nd memo- 
ries of the lixist, and in 'aLuding friendship 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG r.iLLEV, ETC. 



u 



ananif'ested by one sex,— the natural, unos- 
tentatious, but real cliastity ?ind virtue, and 
evinced by the other sex— I can only say, 
that the Indian character presents, in these re- 
spects, a model which "cultivated Society" 
might well choose for emulation. , 

Among all tlie barbaric tribes, the Ho-de- 
no-eau-nec, or "People of the Long House," 
— the Iroquois — held pre-eminent rank for 
eloquence, bravery and skill in war, — con- 
summate address and energy in perfecting all 
the arts which gave success to Indian policy. 
But the might}' league that once held sove- 
reignty of all these lands watered by the Sus- 
quehanna and its tributary streams, lias lost 
its supremacy forever ! Atatasho and Hia- 
watha, the deities of this Confederacy', no 
longer worshipped upon the banks of these 
noble rivers, have departed. The council- 
fires of the Iroquois, once marking their wide 
jurisdiction, have been extinguished. Their 
empire has passed away ; and the shadows of 
night, which have already enveloped so many 
Indian nations, now gathers darkly around 
the few remaining Iroquois who yet * linger 
here, where the gleam of the setting sun 
dimly falls upon the graves of their fathers, 
to lament, the departed greatness of their once 
powerful empire, and ere long its impenetrable 
gloooi will wrap even this small remnant of 
the once haughty Iroquois in darkness and 
oblivion. 

I will now attempt to gather, and briefly 
narrate such reminiscences as may yet remain 
relating to the early settlement and history 
of Newtown. 

Colonel John Hendy was tbe pioneer of the 

Chemung Valley. He came to Newtown in 

the year 1786. Col. Hendy was a veteraii of 

the Ke volution, being engaged, at the age of 

nineteen, at the battle of Princeton, and also 

at Trenton . • Before reaching the age of 

twenty-one he was commissioned as Captain, 

and participated in the battle of Monmouth, 

and in a brilliant manner brought off the 

. remnant of his company from the field. It 

i'xfas here that Capt. Hendy had gallantly 

',' bbi-ne to a place ef safety the brave General 

',',Mercer, who was wounded during the action 

,'r and survived only a few days. 

Colonel Hendy had broken with the plough 

the first field, and raised the first crop of grain 

. m the Chemung Valley. He was appointed 

.-.Captain of a militia company by Governor 

;Geo. Clinton, "February '22nd, 1789, in the 

, 'town of Chemung, County of Montgomery ;" 

'"ahd commissi(?ned second Major of a " Kcgi- 

ment of ililitia in the county of Tioga, whereof 

Thomas Baldwin is Lieut. -Col commandant," 

on 22nd of March, 1797, by Gov. Jay ; and 

commissioned as Lieut.-Colonel in 1803, by 

Gov. George Clinton. 

The predecessor of Col. Thomas Baldwin in 

command of the Eegiment previously men- 

■ tioned was an ensign iti Sullivan's army, at 



the battle of Chemung, 31st August, 1779.. 
Colonel Hendy was born in North umlierhmd 
County, Pe7in., on the 2nd of Sept., 17D7. He 
emigrated from Elmira to the West, a ninuber 
of years since — which is the latest record that 
I find of this gallant veteran of the War of 
Independence, and hardy pioneer of .the vGiie- 
mung valley. 

Guy Maxwell, Esq., had emigrated to the 
Chemung Valley Sept. ,1788. He was second 
son of Alexander Maxwell, of Claverock, P^iig- 
land ; and his mother, whose name previous 
to her marriage was Jane McBratney, was re- 
puted as a lady of rare accomplishments, and 
was connected with the "clan McPherson." 
They embarhed from a port in Scotland for 
America, in June, 1770, but were shipwrecked 
in the Irish Channel, upon the coast of Ire- 
land, where, on the 15th of July, 1770, Guy 
Maxwell was born. The family, upon its arri- 
val in America, settled in Virginia. Guy 
Maxwell came to this valley in 1788, and at 
fiist settled at Tioga Point, where he remained 
until 1759, when he removed to Newtown. 
His house, a frame dwelling 32 by 23 feet ia* 
.size upon the ground, was situated upon Wa- 
ter street. 

Newtown was originally planned out on a 
lot granted to Jeffrey Wisner, lying on New- 
town Creek. The first buildings were erected 
in 1790, at a place now known as Sullivan 
street. The dwelling houses of Dr. Hinchman, 
Dr. Scott, Peter Loop and Christian Loop were 
built on Sullivan street. 

In December, 1794, Guy Maxwell, of Tioga 
Point, and S. Hepburn had purchased of Mr. 
T. White a parcel of land in lot 195, contain- 
ing 100 acres, for the sum of five hundred 
pounds, and laid out a village plot on the bank 
of Chemung river. In the conveyance this 
plot was designated DeWittsburgh, but the 
place continued to be known as Newtown 
until 1811, when it was changed to Elmira by 
an Act of the New York Legislature. 

The town of Chemung was laid out in 1788,. 
by James Clinton, John Hothorn and John 
Cantine, Commissioners, and a map of the 
town deposited in the office of the Secretary of 
State for New York. These commissioners 
had surveyed, at this time, October, 1788, lots 
lying in the town of Chemung, and situated 
near the Tioga, or Chemung river, for the 
several individuals below name<l : Israel Par- 
shall, 209 acres ; Usual Bates, 183 acres; C. 
Christ, 1(J2 aci-es ; Josiali Green, 400 acres ; 
Pdchard Edsell, 2d, 285 acres. They also sur- 
veyc'l a lot of 450 acres for John Miller, in 
Big Flats. 

In 1778, Guy Maxwell was appointed Prin- 
cipal Assessor for the Sixth Assessment Dis- 
trict of the Ninth Division of the State of 
New York, which comprised the County of 
Tioga, which then included six towns, via : 
Newtown. Chcnmng, Owcgo, Chenango, TTnion 
and Jericho. This assessment was made in 



52 



HISTORICAL SKETCH ©F THE CHEMUNG VALLKY, ETC. 



pursuance of an Act levyinL^ a direct tax, 
under the administration of President John 
Adams. Col. Nicolas Fish, of New York, was 
the Supervisor of Uevenue for the State of 
New York. The original M.SS. (now lying 
before me) of the assessment roll of the Sixth 
District, containing names of the inhaWtants, 
etc., is dated "October 1st, 1778." Soon after 
this assessment was made, Mr. Maxwell was 
appointed Sheriff of Tioga county, by Gov, 
Geo. Clinton. Guy Maxwell was a soldier in 
the Revolutionary war. He died in 1814, 

Among the Pioneers who had settled about 
Newtown, I will mention the names of Ma- 
tliias Hollenback, formerly of Wyoming, who 
resided upon Water Street, in a house built 
partly frame and partly of logs, size 29 by 20 
feet. John Konkle, a veteran of the Revolu- 
tion, who lived in a frame house, 20 by 16 
feet, on Water Street, and who died at the age 
of seventy years. Joseph Hincherman, M. D., 
who had been a soldier of the Revolution, and 
was Slieriff of Tioga county from 1795 to 1799, 

• living in a frame dwellingrhouse, 38 by 30 
feet ; he died in 1802, at the age of forty 
years. Selah Matthews, who lived in a frame 
house on the east side of Main (now Sullivan) 
street, and who was a veteran of the Revolu- 
tionary war, dying in 1833, at the age of 
seventy-one years. Peter Loop, who had 
erected a frame-house 22 by 18 feet, on Main 
street mentioned above. John Stower, who 
built a house of hewn logs, 34 by 20 feet, on 
the east side of Main street. Cornelius Lowe, 
who lived in a log-house, 28 by 22 feet in size' 
with kitchen 18 by 23 feet, on Water street, at 
a place where Lyman Covell has resided of 
late years. Lemuel Churchill, who built a 
house of square logs, 18 by 16 fset, on the east 
side of Main street. Christian Scott, who bad 
erected a frame dwelling-house, 28 by 20 feet, 
also on Main street. John Miller, who lived 
in a house 34 by 17 feeti J. Brown, who 

. lived in a log-house 23 by 21 feet, erected on 
Water street. Robert Starrett kept the tavern 
which was situated upon Water street, and 
was a frame building, 30 by 30 feet in she, 
with kitchen 18 by 20 feet,— and which was 
afterward known as the Klive House. These 
were the settler's thus living in their frame 
and log dwellings, about the village in 1798. 

The hazetand darkness which has been ga- 
thering through the long night of the Past, 
and which had nearly enveloped the homes, 
as they once existed, of the Pioneers, is here 
withdrawn, and we ftgain have a glimpse of 
Newtown, as it had stood in the period of its 
early settlement— an accurate though rude 
picture of this rural hamlet by the river side, 
as it appeared sixty-nine years ago. 

Beside the Pioneers who were living at New- 
town as above mentioned, in 1798. at this 
early purioii, the pioneers below named had 
a-Iso settlei} in the region about Newtown and 



within the present limits of Chemung County. 

Col. John Hendy, who in the year 1796 had, 
made the first settlement in Chemung valley. 
Hon. "Vincent Mathews, who was a member of 
Assembly in the New York State Legislature 
in 1794-95, and was tho first Senator elected 
from the Western District to the State Legis- 
lature, thus early occupying position in the 
Senate from 1796 to 1802. and also a repre- 
sentative in Congress in 1809-1811. Brintoa 
Paine, an officer of the Army in the Revolu- 
tion, and who had been taken prisoner during 
the war and confined in a British prison-ship ; 
he re.sided here for a number of years, and died 
at the advanced age of eighty- one years. Rev, 
Roswell Goff, who organized the first church, 
or religious society (Baptist) which was estab- 
lished in Chemung valley, formed in 1790, at 
Wellesburgh. Joseph Hiller, Isaac Baldwin, 
James Bower, John Hendy, Henry Baldwin, 
Caleb Baker, E. Bennett,— and Elijah Brick, 
who had commenced a settlement at Brick-. 
ville, in 1798, where he was soon followed by 
Captt D. McDowell and William Wincoop. 

The house of William Dunn, and also that 
of Nathaniel VV. Howell, were situated on the 
bank of the river, east of Sullivan street. 
Many of the old houses, erected during the 
early period of the settlement of Newtown, in 
the neighborhood of Sullivan street, are yet 
remaining. In these buildings, where moss ii 
now cropping round the crumbling door-sill, 
and over the shattered window-pane, the early 
settlers had lived, and had their share of joy 
and of sorrow — here, too, they loved, and had 
been actors in romances as impassioned and as 
strange, perchance, as any that are recorded 
in our literature. But, these early residents 
have all passed away, and are silent withiu 
the tomb, as ^ce, too, ere long, shall be. 

The first Court House at Newtown, or EI- 
mira, was erected about 1796, upon Main (now 
Sullivan) street, near its intersection with 
Cross Street. It was a two-story building, 
constructed of logs. Within the walls of this 
old Court House have sat such eminent jurists 
as Livingston, Spencer, Kent, VanNess, Wood- 
worth, Tompkins, etc. And within its rude 
bar have been uttered the eloquent arguments 
of such distinguished lawyers as Hornell, 
Matthews, Haight, Sedgwick, Avery, Spencer, 
Dickinson, Divin and Collier. 

The Judges in the Courts of Tioga County 
were : Abraham Miller, from 1779 to 1798 ; 
John Patterson, from 1798 to 1807 ; John 
Miller, from 1807 to 1800 ; E. Coryell, from 
1810 to 1818 ; G. W. Barstow, from 1818 to 
1828 ; Grant B. Baldwin, from 1828 to 1833 ; 
and John B. Drake, from 1833 to 1838. 

William Dunn, who had been a soldier in 
the Revolutionary War, and who bad made 
his residence at Newtown, died here at tha 
age of ninety, years. 

I may heie remark, that in 1797 Newtowu 
was visited by the Duke of Orleaus— Louis 



niSTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG VALLEY, KTC. 



53 



fhilippe. The father of this celebrated exile 
had perished on the scaffold, and his brothers, 
the Uuke de Montspensier and the Count de 
Beanjolais, had been imprisoned in the Castle 
of 8t, Jean, at Marseilles. However, in 17%, 
the Frer.eh Directory released the piisoners of 
state, on the condition that they should repair 
to the United States, accompanied by the 
Duke of Orleans. They reached Diiladelphia 
in the 'winter of 1776, and remained there 
until Spring, when they visited Washington 
at Mount Vernon. Thence they traveled 
through several Western States, and arrived at 
Buffalo in June ; and thence proceeded to 
Canandaigua, Geneva and Havana. From 
Havana the royal exiles went to Flmira, on 
foot. They had letters of introduction from 
Thos. Morris, of Canandaigua to several lead- 
ing citizens at Newtown, or Elmira. 

The Duke of Orleans, and his companions, 
stopped, while at Newtown, at the Klive 
House, (previously described in this sketch), 
find remained here some ten days. During 
their sojourn, they were engaged in fishing, 
hunting, etc. A Mr. John Stower, at New- 
town, furnished the exiles with a Durham 
boat, in which they descended the Susque- 
hanna to Wilkesbarre, and then went across 
the country to Philadelphia. 

Some years later, Newtown was visited by 
another exile — Louis Napoleon, — while this 
distinguished exile was engaged in his travels 
through our country. He is described by 
residents of this section, who had seen him 
while staying here, to have been an athletic, 
energetic man. He was a relative, and I may 
add, a worthy representative of the Great 
Emperor, Napoleon — who was, indeed, the 
great master in the realm of human action, as 
Shakespeare was the great master in the realm 
of human thought. 

Louis Napoleon, while at Newtown, had 
stopped, I have been informed, at the Klive 
House — the same rude tavern where Louis 
Philippe had previously stayed. The traveller 
who now, in humble guise, had put up at this 
log-tavern, near the river bank, affords a stri- 
king contrast with the magnificence which 
waits upon the Imperial monarch of the Tuil- 
Icries— the Emperor Napoleon III — acknow- 
ledged to be the ablest and wisest ruler now 
holding power upon earth. And yet, such are 
life's strange contrasts. Burns, the poor, de- 
spised writer of song, actualljf dying from the 
effects of want and neglect (as I have been in- 
formed by relatives of Burns, living at Ayr) — 
but the time has already come when even the 
oame of Scotland is remembered mainly be- 
cause it had been the borne of Robert Burns ! 

I have previousjy referred to the first church 
organized in this region in 1790, by Rev. Ros- 
well Goff. The first Presbyterian Church at 
]^ewtown was organized in 1793. Its earliest 
pastor was Rev. Daniel Thatcher. A second 
rresbyteriaii Churcb was orgaoissed iu 1860, of 



which the first pastor was Rev. D. Murdoch. 
The first Baptist Church was organized in 
May, 1821)— its pastor, was Rev. P. G. Gillett. 
Trinity Church, Episcopal, was organized in 
1833 — its first rector was Rev. Thomas Clarke. 
Independent Church, organized in 18-45 — its 
first pastor, Rev. F. W. Graves. 

The various churches exercise a wide influ- 
ence lor good ; and yet it should be wished 
that their communicants sustained a closer re- 
lation to the religion taught by our Divine 
Saviour Jesus Christ, and which had been ex^ 
emplified by his followers by entire renounce- 
ment of sel/--hy their love to God and to Man, 
and in leading a pure and virtuous life. 

Col- Mathias Hollenback, from Wilkesbarre, 
Penn., was the earliest merchant at Newtown. 
His store was situated at the junction of the 
Creek with the Chemung River. S. Tuttle 
and R. Covill commenced mercantile business 
in Newtown, in 1807, which was suecessfully 
continued during many years. Guy Maxwell, 
Esq., Thomas Goldsborough, T. M. Perry, J. 
Erwin, E. Heller, L. Covell, M. Covoil, J. 
Baldwin, J. Cherry, J. Hollenback, Thomas 
Maxwell, Samuel H. Maxwell, and J. Rey-^ 
nolds were also among the early merchants at 
Elmira. 

The early lawyers at Elmira who had ac- 
quired any forensic distinction, may be thus^ 
named : Peter Loop, D. Jones, Vincent Mat- 
thews, S. H. Haight, George C. Edwards, J, 
Robinson, Aaron Rankle, T. North, Willian: 
Maxwell, Thomas Maxwell, A. S, Divin, A. S 
Thurston, S. G. Mathews, &o. 

The early physicians at Newtown or Elmira 
may be thus enumerated : Joseph Hinch 
man, Amos Peck, C. Scott, J. Chamberlain 
John Ross. James Ross, A. G. White, Dr. As 
penwall, J. Purdy, T. Brooks and R. Bancroft 
These men, the early merchants, lawyers 
and Physicians of Newtown, are now nearl; 
all deceased. A few yet remain— the honorec 
representatives of that class whose enterprise 
learning and skill, had contributed so mucl 
to advance Elmira in prosperity, oommercia 
position and reputation, to the proud rani 
which this city now claims and occupies. 

Among the leading men of Elmira whom 
have above referred to, none are entitled t 
claim a higher rank in the esteem of posterit; 
than the Maxwells — Hon. William Maxwei 
and Hon. Thomas Maxwell — who were sons c 
Guy Maxwell. 

William Maxwell was born at Tioga Poini 
Penn., Feb. 11th, 1894. He represented th 
county of Tioga in Ihe Assembly of the Stat 
Legislature of New York, in 1828. In 1846 
he was the Delegate from Chemung County i 
the Convention held to amend the Constitv 
tion of the State of New York, and was tb 
first member of Assembly elected from Chf 
mung County after the new Constitution ( 
1846 went into effect. He died at the age ( 
sixty-two, ripe in years and honors. 



A4 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG VALLEY, ETC. 



The Hon. Thomas Maxwell was indeed 
widely known and distinguished for his 
marked ability, sound, practical judgment and 
unswerving integrity, evinced in public not 
less than in private life. lie Vi^as honored with 
important trusts, bestowed by his fellow-citi- 
zens. He held the ofFice of County Clerk from 
March, 1S19, to January, 1829; and was a 
Representative in Congress from Tioga, in 
1820-31. He departed this life several years 
since, widely and deeply mourned. 

The early members of the State Legislature 
— the Assembly- -of New York, from Tioga 
County, which then embraced Newtown, Avere: 
John Fitch, 1702 ; Jolni Patterson, 1703 ; Vin- 
cent Mathev^s, 1794-'95 ; Emanuel Coryell, in 
1796-'97 ; E. Coryell and Benjamin Harvey, 
in 1798. 

James McMasters was the fiVst Sheriff of 
Tiogn County, and held this office from 1791 
to 1795 ; Joseph Ilinchman, M. D.. was iShe:iff 
of the County, from 1701 to 1790 ; Edward 
Edwards was appointed Sheriff in 1700, but 
only held this office until 1800, and was then 
succeeded by Guy Maxwell, who remained in 
this position, and exercised the duties of 
Sheriff of the County, until 1804. 

This section, the region about Newtown, 
had been represented in the State Senate by 
Vincent Mathews, from 170G to 1802, and 
also by other distinguished men, here named, 
viz : G. W. Barstow, from 1810 to 1822 ; J.G. 
McDowell, from 1823 to 1835 ; and D. S. Dick- 
inson, from 1840 to 1844. 

Among the Representatives in Congress 
from this District, which embraced Newtown 
(or Elmira), the able and distinguished men 
below mentioned had resided at this village : 
Hon. Vincent Mathews, Hon. Thomas Max- 
well, Hon. Samuel Partridge, who was a mem- 
ber of Congress in 1841-'43 ; and Hon. Hiram 
Gray, who represented the District in Con- 
gre.ss, in 1887 and 1840. Mr. Gray justly 
ranks among the ablest jurists in our State. 
and was appointed Circuit Judge of the Su- 
preme Court of the State of New York in 
1846. 

In the State Convention of 1801, held to 
draft a Constitution for the State of New 
York, Hon. John Patterson was the delegate 
from Tioga. 

At the period of the first settlement of the 
Chemung Valley, this section was included in 
Montgolnei-y County, (the name of the County 
having been changed Irom Tryon in 1784. In 
i784, Tioga was taken from Montgomery, and 
erected into a separate County. It then in- 
cluded Chemung, which had been formed into 
Townships in the year 1789, and live other 
towns, and which now emlDvaces Tioga and 
Broome, and parts of Chemung and Chenango 
Counties. 

In 1792, a part of Chemung was detached 
establishecl as a seperate township under the 
name of Newtown ; and in 1808 the name of 



the town was changed by act of Legislature, 
from Newtown to Elmira. 

In 1812, when the United States had de- 
clared war against Great Britain, in order to 
sustain our maritime rights, this region most 
nobly and patriotically responded to the call 
which our Government then made for troops. 
Among the men who were most earnest, ac- 
tive, and influential in raising a force to join 
the American army on the frontiers, Mathew 
Carpenter, should particularly be named. He 
was at first appointed Brigadier-General, and 
afterwards advanced to rank of Major-General. 
General Carpenter had been a soldier in the 
American army during the Revolution. He 
had always been one of the most prominent 
among the public men of this section in con- 
tributing his talents and energy toward build- 
ing up and sustaining the pioneer settlements 
of the Chemung Valley. 

In the Convention of 1821, held in Albany, 
to amen'l the Constitution of the State of 
New York, General Carpenter was elected to 
represent the County of Tioga. He died here, 
in 1831, at the age of eighty -one years. 

In a company raised in the section about 
Newtown, in the war of 1812, J. Jenkins, of 
Southport, was appointed Captain ; J. Sayers 
First Lieutenant, and Fhincas Catlin, of Ca- 
tharine, Second Lieutenant. 

The earliest newspaper published in Che- 
mung County (then embraced in Tioga,) was 
issued at Newtown ; and it was styled "The 
Telegraph." In 1816, it was changed to "Vi- 
dette." In 1821, " The Investigator" was 
commencad at Elmira , and in the same year 
the name of this newspaper was changed to 
' 'The Tioga Register. ' ' Two daily newspapers 
the "The Advertiser" and the "Gazette," — 
both of which are ably sustained in the edito- 
rial department, and give an interesting record; 
of current events, — are now published at 
Elmira. 

In 1846, the County of Chemung was estab- 
lished — the towns within the new county be- 
ing detached from Tioga county. Upon the- 
organizntion of the County of Chemung, in 
183G, Governor Troop appointed Joseph 8. 
Darling as first Judge of the County, and he- 
exercised the judicial duties pertaining to this 
office until 18-49, when he resigned the posi- 
tion. Mr. Darling was succeeded, in 1844, by- 
James Dunn, as first Judge of the County, 
and held the office until 1846, — and at this 
time Mr. Darling again received the appoint^ 
ment as Judge, and performed the labors con- 
nected with the office until the new Constitu- 
tion of the State went into effect in the year 
1847. 

Mr. Darling had settled near Odessa (now in 
Schuyler County) in 1810, where he still re- 
sides. He has now reached the age of eighty- 
two years. Mr. Darling has been succeeded 
in this office— First Judge of Chemung County 



IliSTOfelCAL SKt-iCn of THE CKEMCNG VALLEY, ETC. 



•55 



— Dy several men of legal ability, but by none 
more able than Horace B. Smith. 

The Legislature of the State of New York, 
had passed an Act, April 15th, 1819, nutho- 
rizina; the construction of the Chemung Canal, 
to extend from the Chemung River, atEImini, 
to Havana: The surveys and estimates for 
this Canal wCre submitted by Holmes Hut- 
chinson, Nov. 12th, 1829. The Chemung 
Canal, was put under contract in April, 1830, 
at an estimated cost of $291,831.00. The 
Chemung Canal, with tl^e Feeder which con- 
neted it with the Canisteo river near Painted 
Post, {now Corning), and intersected with the 
canal at Horseheads, was completed on the 
10th of September, 1831. The Caiial and 
Feeder required the building of fifty-tWo locks, 
geventy-six bridges, etc., and tlie entire cost 
of construction was $814,385.51. 

The village of Ehnira was incorporated in 
1815. The Elmira Seminary for Young La- 
dies had been commenced about 1849, and I 
lielieve is now in prosperous condition. The 
Elmira Academy, a private institution, has 
been in successful operatiim for a number of 
years ; and the Elmila Female College, which 
Was incorporated in 1855, now ranks among 
the first collegiate institutions of our State. 

I cannot attempt the relation of many 
events of tinimpoltant moment, which have 
occurred during recent years at Elmira, or in 
the surrounding region, but I will proceed at 
once to give some view of the more stirring 
period in our history connected with the civil 
war -which was commenced In 1801 ; though I 
may only be able to give a brief statement in 
regard to the actions of proniineut men of this 
section in their noble eilorts to sustain _ the 
cause of the Union in the midst of the terrible 
ordeal of civil war. 

Tne Rebellion resulted, unquestionably, 
from the disappointed ambition of a few politi- 
cal leaders in the Southern States, wlio during 
ing many years had been ceaselessly plotting the 
disruption of the Union as established by the 
Constitution framed by the men of the Revo- 
lution ; and then, from tlie ruins of this noble 
fabric, these criminal leaders fancied that they 
should succeed in forming a separate confede- 
racy, in which their own will and caprice 
Would be the supreme law. It was but the 
repetition of great crimes hitherto enacted in 
liuman history, ; but I am fully conscious of 
my inability to portray the magnitude of the 
crime and madness exhibited by the leaders of 
the rebellion of 1861, and I may well adopt 
the invocation of the great Epic poet as ex- 
pressed in the numbers of the Iliad : 

"Achilles' wrath, the direful spring 
, of Grecian Woes, O Goddess sing !"' 

"Nevertheless, if the writer of this sketch ar- 
rived at an erroneous opinion as to the posi- 
tion occupied by the leading statesmen of our 
country, and especially as to tlie part which 
they respectively luid assumed in the opening 



Act of the great Drama of civil war, this error 
did not arise from failure of opportunity to 
become conversant, either through tlie me- 
dium of personal conversation or by corre-^ 
spondcnce, with the views entertained respect- 
ing the questions involved in this conflict hf 
the principal members of the Executive, Jndi-.^ • 
cial and Legislative Departments of tlie Na-, 
tional Government during the years 1860 and 
1861,— including in this number the Lieut. - 
General, and other veteran officers of the U. S.. 
Armyj eminent Senators, &c. •(■ 

Tlie unliallowed purposes of treason, the 
criminal objects of the rebellion, had been 
openly avowed by political leaders in tlie 
spring of 1860. Sagacious and patriotic states- 
men of our country fully comprehended the 
magnitude of the danger which threatened ouf 
llepublic, although in tlic new and untried 
exigencies of public affairs, these patriotic 
men differed in opinion as to the better policy, 
or requisite measures to be adopted. In tlie 
Executive Department of the Government, the! 
eminent and illustrious statesman then occu- 
pying the position of Chief Magistrate, Mr. 
Buchanan, had adopted a conciliatory policy, 
designed to allay political excitement, yet 
firmly maintaining the authority of the Gene- 
ral Government.preparing in the event that it 
should be assailed, as was afterward done in 
the attack made by the conspirators upon 
Fort Sumter, to sustain the supremacy of the 
Union by all the enetgy and military power of 
the Government. 

A majority of the Cabinet were Southern 
men, but whenever any of these evinced by 
his active opposition to the patriotic purposea 
and exertions of the loyal men living in the 
South, and had shown active sympathy with 
the conspirators, they were promptly com- 
pelled to leave the Cabinet, and their places 
were at once filled by true men, as thus Holt 
was ajipointed Secretaty of War, and Dix as 
Secretary of the Treasury, etc. And the re- 
sult of this policy, in throwing the responsi- 
bility of coidmencing the war, as assumed by 
the attack made upon Sumter, giving tlie 
weight of moral victory upon the side of the 
Union, and which exerted an important influ- 
ence in deciding tlie couise taken by the bor- 
der States, at once evinced the unswerving 
integrity, and the comprehensive statesman- 
ship of President Buchanan in this momentous 
period of our history. 

The patriotic men, the true statesmen of 
our country, at this perilous period, united 
their earnest efforts in behalf of the Union, 
and counseled and labored to secure some ad- 
justment of difliculties, as had been done at 
various times in the pcvious history of ouf 
nation, whereby hostile collisions of sections 
of our country would be avoided— or ratlicr, 
these noble and patriotic statemen sought to 
lay a broad foundation, upon which all truly 
loyal and conservative men could unite whilo 



56 



tttStOtllCAL SKETCH Of* THE CHEMUNG VALLEY, ETC. 



engaged in the struggle in defence of the 
Union, and thus the war, which the conspira- 
tors had determined to force upon the National 
Government would be of ishort duration — ter- 
minating with speedy discomfiture and over- 
throw of the traitors. 

For the sacred purpose of devising measures 
for the support of the Union, a Convention 
composed of delegates from twenty-one States, 
met upon the 4th of February, 1861, at Wash- 
ington. This conference included among its 
members the ablest men of our nation, —as 
Hon. S. P. Chase, from Ohio ; Gen. John E. 
Wool, from New York ; and the Hon. Rev- 
erdy Johnson, from Maryland. This Conven- 
tion, after ample debate, assumed a concilia- 
tory policy. The Hon. Revcrdy Johnson, who 
in 1861 alike as at the present time, held the 
distinguished rank as one of the ablest states- 
men and jurists of our land, exercised, by the 
resistless force of his eloquence, unsurpassed 
in rhetorical beauty and unequaledin strength 
of argument, a controling influence over the 
deliberations of this important conveution. 
Mr. Johnson now holds the first rank, the pre- 
eminent position, as the ablest statesman in 
the American Senate, where within this proud 
forum of debate and legislation the illustrious 
Senator of Maryland has indeed rivaled by his 
eloquence the lofty reputation acquired "here 
by Webster and by Clay— and, in our own 
time, by the unequaled statesmanship, elo- 
quence and wisdom which he has thus brought 
to the councils of the Republic, has won re- 
Rplendent fame, whose lustre wdl grow diin 
only when the firmament itself shall fade 
away ! 

The action of the Convention of 18G1 could 
not prevent the rebellion which had been al- 
ready fully matured by the conspirators ; but 
if all the patriotic, or professed Union men of 
the nation, had given approval of its platform, 
the rebellion would have been shorn of its 
proportions and disarmed of its power. 

Among the great men of the Republic, whose 
long period of eminent public services had 
rendered their names illustrious in its annals 
and who united their earnest efforts in defense 
of the Union, I have only space to name Hon. 
Lewis Cass, Hon. J. J. Crittenden, Hon. J. A. 
Bayard ; Messrs. Wayne and Nelson of the 
Bupreme Court ; Generals Scott and' Wool ; 
and the Hon. George M. Dallas, who had for- 
merly occupied with pre-eminent ability and 
honor the important position of Vice-Presi- 
dent of the Republic, and as the presiding 
officer of the Senate in its palmiest days, win- 
ning the trophies of unequaled and endur- 
ing fame. 

The National Administration, in its efforts 
to sustain the Union intact, had to contend 
not only with the ceaseless activity of the 
treasonable conspirators at the South, but also 
against the evil influence of that class of per- 
sons within the North, who were, in realitv, 



looking for tlie disruption of the Union, as » 
change bringing to them the 

"Tide in the affairs of men, 
Which, take?i at the flood, leads on to fortune.'^ 

Thus, a distinguished Senator, who aftsrward 
became a member of Mr. Lincoln's cabinet, 
treated the idea that any formidable attempt 
upon the part of the Southerners to dissolve 
the Union was only fancy, and that "a dozen 
John Browns could scare them back;' whilst a 
prominent editor, who has since shown his 
particulat friendship for Davis and his fellow- 
conspirators in crime, arowed his opposition 
to any "coercive measures'' to sustaiii the 
Union. 

The administration of Preddcht Buchanan^ 
the War Department being under the efficient 
direction of Holt, had continued steadily to 
strengthen our national defences at the most 
important points, and the Government of the 
nation, in its unbroken supremacy, was banded 
over, 4th Marck, 1861, to the succeeding exe- 
cutive administration. 

The action subsequently taken by the Na- 
tional administration, upon the event of the 
attack which was made upon our national 
forts at Charleston, was precisely like thit 
which would have been pursued, in a similaf 
event, by the administration of President Bu- 
chanan. Neither the administration of Mr. 
Buchanrn, nor of Mr. Lincoln, proceeded to 
inaugurate forcible measures until the leaders 
of the rebellion had committed an overt act of 
resistance to the authority and supremacy of 
the Federal Government. 

It will be observed that both of these ad- 
ministrations adopted and pursued practically, 
the same course. I only give a statement of 
the facts in the premises. 

It may not be improper to mention, that 
in the most despondent and gloomy period to 
our nation in the prosectition of the war to 
suppress the rebellion, when many friends of 
the Union were almost ready to abandon fur- 
ther conflict as hopeless of success, Ex-Presi- 
dent Buchanan had thus expressed, to the 
writer of this sketch, his views of the )?»ar: 
"The South, unnecessarily and without any- 
adequate provocation, had commenced a war — 
when it may terminate. Heaven only knows, 
but 1 hope and trust only upon the restoration of 
the Union." 

These few expressive words corered the 
whole ground of the greast conflict. The ear- 
nest devotion which this eminent statesman 
had evinced for the Union during his long and 
distinguished career in the public coimcils of 
the Republic, as well as throughout the im- 
portant period of his administration of the 
National Government, continued unshaken in 
the darkest hours of the late momentous civil 
war< Future history holds the glorious re- 
ward of his patriotism and statesmanship. 

However, in the early part of 1861, the 
madness and criminal ambition ofSoutheta 



itlStORICAI. SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG TAELET, EtC. 



51 



leaders precipitated the country into a war ; 
and to the appeal of our Government to sus- 
tain the Union intact, the people everywhere 
in the loyal States responded with an enthn- 
siasni only equalled by that which had been 
displayed by the patriots of the Revolution ; 
and the veteran not less than the eminent 
Gfuerals, of the war of 1912, and who had 
also won the laurels of resplendent fame upon 
the victorious battle-fields of Mexico — Scott 
and Wool— gave their fullest energies to sus- 
tain the military supremacy of the Union. 
And these veteran oSlccvs, whcse names had 
been rendered illustrious in the military ser- 
vice of the republic, were most nobly seconded 
by the hel-oisra and strategical skill displayed 
by McClellan, by Sherman, and by Grant,-— 
until the final triumph of our arms was 
achieved through the unparalelled energy and 
military skill, the masterly strategy and bril- 
liant movemt-nts of the great captain of the 
age— General Ulysses S. Grant -whose illus- 
trious achievements have nobly earned the 
enduring gratitude of his country, not less 
than the laurels of immortal fame. 

The patriotism and noble endurance shown 
by the American people throughout the pro- 
gress of the war, became entitled to unmea- 
sured praise, as it indeed constitutes a solid 
and lasting tribute to the intelligence and 
virtue of the masses, not less than to the 
worth and permanance of Republican institu- 
tions of Government* 

Unfortunately the general direction of mili- 
tary affairs, the charge of the War Depart- 
ment connected with the National Govern- 
ment daring the civil war — as had previously 
been the case in the war with Great Britain in 
1812— was placed under the control of those 
who possessed no practical knowledge of the 
exigencies and requirements of military ser- 
vice. Had the War Department, upon the 
lirst outbreaking of the rebellion, been at once 
placed and continued entirely under direction 
of such an able "and skillful military chieftain 
as Major-Gen. John E. Wool, and our heroic 
generals and armies in the field been properlv 
supported in the strategical movements which 
•were bravely prosecuted for the suppression of 
the rebellion, and the military power by which 
it was sustained, there cannot be the slightest 
doubt but that the arms and flag of the Re- 
public would have been fully and gloriously 
triumphant in the year 1862 — and treason and 
traitors alike been awarded the due penalty 
for the blackest crime which earth ever wit- 
nessed, and the question settled whether trea- 
son is crime — for if there were no living wit- 
nesses as to the guilt of the traitors, then 
would they spring by unnumbered thousands 
from every battle-field of this civil war, to 
confront Davis and his fellow-conspirators 
■with evidence of their "damning deeds" — and 
the terrible demon of Disunion be banished 
from our land forever ! 



Nor was this section of the State, the region 
about Elmira, behind any locality of our coun- 
try ill the promptitude and ardor with which 
it raised volunteers for the array. Among 
the: patriotic men of thi.s section, and I may 
add of the State, none displayed greater en- 
ergy in the noble efforts which were made to 
subserve the cause of the Union, than the 
Hon. A. S. Diven, of Elmira. Mr. Diven 
was born in Reading, Pena.. about the year 
1810. He read law with Judge G jay „ of El- 
mira, and was a representative in Congress in 
1859, '60 and 61, where he had shown distin- 
guished legislative ability. 

The 107th Regiment of New York Volun- 
teers, of which Robert B. Vanvalkenburgh 
had command as Colonel, end A. S. Diven 
was the Lieutenant-Colonel, went into service 
upon the 12th of August, 1862, and was en- 
gaged in the battle of Antietam upon the 12th 
of October. Diven received the appointment 
of Colonel of the Regiment, succeeding Col. 
Van Valkenburgh in command. In the battle 
of Chancellorsville, Colonel Diven, then com- 
manding this Regiment, led his men amid the 
fiercest conflict, in which he displayed distin- 
guished gallantry, and exercised great judg- 
ment in directing his troops. An officer of 
the Regiment remarked to tne, in reference to , 
Colonel Diven's participation in this battle, 
etc., as follows : "A braver man never lived." 
In Mvy. 1863. Divan received the appointment 
of Adjutant-General, with the rank of Major, 
and was placed in charge of the rendezvous ! 
for troops at Elmira. He was appointed Bre- 
vet Brigadier General upon the 30lh of August 
1864. 

General Divan also had, resulting from his 
military or official position, a general super- 
vision of the several Enrollment Districts of 
Western New York, and his administration 
was marked by great ability and integrity ; 
and in the discharge of his oflicial duties, 
which were general in their nature and limited 
in their sphere of action, his course whs always 
marked by the most earnest effort to promote 
the interests of our country, and to secure 
impartial justice. In these arduous exertions 
toward maintaining intact the principles of 
justice and right in the labors which devolved 
upon Gen. Diven, who in accordance with the 
provisions of the Enrollment Act could exer- 
cise only general jurisdiction, whilst the ut- 
most latitude of authority was vested in the 
several Provost-Marshals, it is known that 
Gen. Diven was almost universally and re- . 
markably successful. In no instance, it is be- 
lieved, where he possessed the power to apply 
correction, was there any matter brougnt. to 
his attention, but that justice was promptly 
enforced. 

Fortunately, the various Enrolling Boards 
within our State were generally omposdot" 
intelligent men, whose official action was free 
fiom the taint of corruption ; it would not be 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEMUNG VALLEY, ETC, 



a matter of surprise, liowevcr, that exceptions 
existenj, \yhen the miscreants succeciled in 
cloakirig their villainy from ol>&ervation and 
correction. 'J'he course pursued l.y some ol 
the members of the Eurulliiig Board ot the 
31st District ot New Yorli, lias not received its 
due meed of praise. The wondertid acLieve- 
nients of these official personages, 

"Dressed in a little brief authority," 
had indeed surpassed the brilliant campaigns of 
Dun Quixotte and his faithful squire, Sancho 
Panza--had outdone the renowned exploits of 
Jack Falstaff— and eclipsed the shrewdness 
and cunning of lago. The language which 
hitherto had been adapted to designate dis- 
gusting imbecility, and loathsome vice, and 
degraded infamy, was yet too poor to reach 
the lowest depths, until the names of a portion 
of the Officers of this Board had furnishad the 
requisite synonyms of meanness and squahdi- 
ty. We can class such foul, disgusting defor- 
mities only with the idiot, or with the villain, 
and it were doubtful which would hold the 
strongest claim; while to rank such despicable 
creatures upon an equality with the brute — 
the beast wallowing in its filth, and the rep- 
tile crawling in its slime, alike, would spurn 
the insult and degradation in being classed 
upon a level with such vile and loathsome 
vermin. 

Tbe exception above adduced becomes more 
(ieeply marked in its infamy because it stands 
alone; a plague-spot showing more strongly 
by contrast its own foul, cancerous deformity. 
It formed an anomaly, for which none but the 
petty officers of this Enrolling Board^whose 
'individual names I will not drag out of the 
filth to pollute these pages— were in any sense 
responsible. The records of human baseness 
are already sulficiently full without the addi- 
tion of more loul and blacker names— and 
which would out-rival the lists ot the lower 
regions. 

The Hon. A. S. Diven resigned the rank 
which he had so ably held as Brevet-Brig.- 
General, in the spring of 1865, and resumed 
the more retired, but equally honorable pro- 
fessional employments of civil life. In every 
capacity in which he has been engaged, as a 
Lawyer, as ^ Representative in Congress,, and 
as a General in our Armies, as well as in the 
important position which he now occupies as 
one of the principal officers of the N. Y. & E. 
11. R. Company, Mr. Diven has always brought 
to the discharge of his arduous labors unswerv- 
ing rectitude and pre-eminent ability, and he 
has justly acquired a solid and enduring repu- 
tation . 

The history of the region lying northward of 
Elmira and toward the Seneca Lake— the Val- 
leys through which Gen. Sullivan's Army had 
passed in pursuing the broken and flying bands 
of Indians in 1779— and beautiful in its varied 
and romantic scenery, and rich in its histori- 
t'al lore, including the fasciuating legends re- 



lating to Catharine Montour, whose true char- 
acter and li:e has hitherto been entirely misap- 
prehended, I must reserve for the secofid part of 
tins sketch, whose continuation will be resimr- 
ed when a better state of health ^halI permit-, 
and which will appear in a subsequent volume. 
And to this re.t;ion, bordering ui)i)n the ma- 
jestic Chemung, vvhose cjties and villages have 
sprung up within the last hundred years from 
the Wilderness as if by the wand of some God 
of olden myth, and whose historj comes like 
some fairy tale of the Arabian Nights. I must 
here bid adieu ! 



NOTE. 

The Author of the Historical Sketch of the 
Chemung, etc., has not aimed to write a for- 
mal narrative of events which have transpired 
in the region embraced in his researches, or, 
in other words, to prepare a "History" in its 
usual staid manner cr style — but he has de- 
signed rather to give a view, a Sketch, of the 
Past and Present of this interesting region of 
our country, and in the somewhat desultory 
style which the poor condition of health would 
warrant him only in attempting to write. A 
year has now elapsed since the sketch was pre- 
pared, and its statements subjected to the free 
criticism of the public, and whilst many who 
were conversant with events narrated have 
since cnrroborated its most important state- 
ments, but a single error in the entire narra- 
tive has been brought to the Autiior's atten- 
tion — although one or two hear-say stories, 
which the writer had previously found to be 
unreliable, have been reiterated in oth- 
er quarters. This one error — or probable error 
— is the story in regard to Louis Bonaparte 
having stopped at Elmira, and made a tour in 
this vicinity, during the period of the visit of 
the present distinguished Emperor, in Ameri- 
ca, in 1837. This statement was made in ac- 
cordance v/ith information which the Aujhor 
deemed reliable. Nevertheless, the Author 
feared that there had been some mistake as to 
identity of the individual who had stopped at 
Elmira, and the Rev. J. S. C. Abbott, who is ful- 
ly conversant with the career oi Napiolean III, 
in a letter to the Author of this sketch ex- 
presses his belief that Louis Napolean did not, 
visit Elmira whilst in the United States ui 
1837 — and the statement of the Rev. Mr. Ab- 
bott is also substantially given by Hon. J. T. 
Headlcy, in a communication to the Author 
of this sketch. 

The Author has been able to examine only a 
portion of the proof-sheets of this sketch, and 
sor any errors which occur, he must ask the 
indulgence of the reader. 

For valuable aid and information which 
very courteously has been given to the Author 
whilst pursuing his investigation connected 
with preparation of both the First and Second 
Parts of this Sketch, he will beg to express 
bis gicat obligations to Hon. G. H.McMaslcr, of 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE GHKMOKG yALLKY, KTC. 



59 



Bith; Mrs. Maxwell, (for loan of Historical 
MSS of late Hon. Thomas Maxwell.) of Elmi- 
ra; Hon. A. S. Diven, Hon. Ch;i8. p. Avery. 
Hnn. William W. Campbell, Willi^ni C. Bry- 
ant. Esq., Capt. D. P. Dey. ((the gieptlemaply 
Commander of the Steamer "D. S. Itaeee,") 
and Rev. Dr. Wiltjon, President of Geneva 
College, besides many others; and, to ail who 
have thus given generous aid in facilitating 
the 4ut})or's ip<jujvies an4 work, be ft^tvirns 
bis sincere thanlis. 



If this Sketch has incidentaljy b|).0^'^ *h*' 
Human Life, when governed by conscient ous 
purpose and effort, controlled by absulute 
Honesty and Truth, by refined and pure sen- 
sibility of thought and emotion, secures th« 
only noble avyard truly worthy of the aim an^ 
endeavor of man, then the Author is content, 
and perchance 

"Not in vaift- 
He wore his sandal ehoon, and scallop sheU..'' 



d« q&il4K 



From tLo Ail Joniuiil. 

ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCHES. 



BY T APOLEOX ClIEXEY, LL. D. 

The dftvscription of the earthworks in 
Western New York — the result of tlie 
survey prosecuted during the year 1859 
— has been given in my report, which 
is published by the Regents of the 
State University.* I propose, howev- 
er, in this article, to refer to several 
matters which have more recently 
come to my notice, in connection with 
those ancient works, as well as to the 
more intimate relation which they hold 
among remains of ancient art. 

The region where these memorials 
of the past are now disclosed, within 
the historic period had been occupied 
b}' the Five Nations, or Iroquois con- 
federacy — the most remarkable, the 
most powerful, known in Listorj*. — 
The name of Ayuinoshioni was feared 
from the St. Lawrence to the Missis- 
sippi, and their conquering prowess 
the terror of surrounding nations. — 
This League has been compared to the 
Amphictyonic Council, and their achiev- 
ments may yet furnish a theme of epic 
song — an Iliad or ^neid. The Ves- 
peric tribes, indeed, had successfully 
maintained their sway throughout all 
the vast domain of uribroken forest 
and mountain ranges, whence the King 
of Floods marshals his multitudinous 
streams — from the desolate fields girt 
by the frozen zone to the sunny slopes 
of the Sierra Madre — from the shores 
of the Atlantic to the golden gateways 
of the Pacific. Around the council- 
fires their orators eloquently discussed 
questions of national policy, and in 
the shade of the wild woc^s the war- 
riors chanted their songs, and the dark- 
eyed and dark-haired maidens danced. 
This mighty realm, looming dimly 
away, if we may credit the Indian 
rryths, becomes lost in an empire of 
yet older date, and around whose his- 
tory gathers the haze of a yet mQre 



impenetrable mystery. To iliis goldcrt 
age may not the beautiful fables ia 
the lore of the Orient refer — that far 
in the bosom of the sea, illumed by th6 
rays of the setting Ilelius, slumbered 
a fair Atlantis — an Hesperian clime — - 
the Ultima Thule? These crumbling 
earthworks — without going beyond 
the range of probable conjecture — at 
least may rival in antiquity the frown- 
ing castles which marked the conflicts 
uf the old world — reaching back to the 
era when the Celts and the Belgaes 
were contending for the supremacy of 
the imperial isle — while the Gapasdaj 
the Ostra-Gotlis and the Yis-Goths, and 
the Herulse.alternately were w.andering 
over the plains of continental Europe 
— to that remote time when the achieve- 
ments of chivalric knights were cele* 
brated in the dark myths of the old 
Nibilugen Lied. Wo only know that 
these nearly decaj'ed monuments of 
former empire wore reared in some far 
century marked by the horologe of 
time. 

The idea has been advanced that the 
earthworks in this section were con- 
structed prior to the formation of the 
terrace which extends from the waters 
of the Lake Erie; but it will not, per* 
haps, be essential to examine this hy* 
pothesis. The rocks in this section, 
from their lithological and zoological 
characteristics, may be referred mainly 
to the Portage and Chemung groups. 
I have noticed a few fossils, as several 
species of Crinoidce and Crustacea, be- 
longing to other series, and specimens 
of Turritella classed in the tertiary- 
system. Tlie Chemung group has been 
considered as occup3"ing the same geo- 
logical horizon with the Devonian sys- 
tem of Europe; the genus Brachiopoda, 
&c., ally it with the Carboniferious pe- 
riod; while species of other genera, as 
Lamellihranchiata, have their equiva- 
lent in the Ludlow rocks of Silurian 
age. The coarse drift of the quarti- 
nary epoch, throughout this section, 
has assumed elevations, resembling 
dunes or aesars, and which, also, h.ave 



a striking sim'Iaiily to the moundsi of 
the west. 

The place which these monumGnts of 
an unknown people will hold in the 
comprehensive history of art, must be 
determined, not less from the princi- 
ples which govern in the construction 
of the earthwork, than in artistic skill 
evinced, or beauty of design displayed, 
in the minor relics. This entire series 
— tumuli, enclosures, &c., — with per- 
haps a single exception, present the 
same general characteristics, and are, 
iindoubtedl3', connected v,7ith the mound 
period of the Mississippi Valley. A 
few instances only— and which I had 
not particularly noticed in the report — 
can be given in illustration. The tu- 
mulus at Conewango in many respects 
lield a place among the most interest- 
ing of the ancient works in this sec- 
tion.' It occupies the brow of a hill, 
overlooking the Conewango, whose 
waters are dark, silent, and gloomy as 
the fabled Styx. Thiij mound is com- 
posed of terraces, like the Teocallis of 
the Aztec capital of the South, and 
contains, eight sepulchral chambers, 
3-anged in circular form. Since mak- 
ing the first examination, I haye sunk 
a shaft directly in the centre of the 
mound. A layer of coarse earth first 
occurred, succeeded by a fine loam, and, 
upon reaching a depth of some five 
feet, the casts whera framework had 
once existed were observed; also, a 
large quantit}' of ashes intermixed 
with fragments of calcined bones; and 
then, descending about three feet fur- 
ther, an alia)', or platform, having an 
extent of several feet across, was dis- 
covered. It was constructed with pre- 
cise accuracy of outline, in the form of 
a parallelogram, with angles extended 
from either side toward the cardinal 
points. The upper surface of the altar 
was entirely level. It was formed in 
compact masonwork, of large, heavy 
stone, in successive layers, overlying 
a stratum of burned claj', which ex- 
tended to the soil of the original sur- 
face, Here, upon this ancient altar, 



had undoubtedly been performed mys- 
terious rites — perhaps like the weird 
incantations in the witches' cave — but 
the actors have long been swept away, 
and their history' perished in the silence 
of oblivion. This ancient barrow, in 
the symmetry of design which it dis- 
play's in connection with the ceremo- 
nial, and perhaps sacrificial, purposes 
of its erection, certainly denotes much 
approach to the principles of art, al- 
though it cannot be c(jmpared to the 
Basilica of Milan, or the antique aisles 
and chapels, resplendent in. their uu- 
fading glories, beneath the majestic 
dome of St. Peter's. An ancient work, 
situated upon the summit of a pictur- 
esque and lofty hill in Ellington, in the 
pi'inciples applied in its construction, 
shows an advanced stage of military 
art — at least, such as prevailed among 
semi-civilized nations. This red<uibt 
is in the form of a parallelogrs^m. In 
the central portion of the parapet an 
entrance occurs, guarded upon either 
side by bastions. This gateway is 
constructed in accordance with the 
Tlascalan plan, as it also resembles 
the form which prevailed in the forti- 
fied camps, or cadra slativa, of the Ro- 
man legions. 

An enclosure is located near the vil- 
lage of Irving. Its walls assume an 
irregular deflection. The question pre- 
sented in the peculiar relic found with- 
in this entrenchment — a bullet imbed- 
ded in the cervical vertebrgee attached 
to a skeleton — is intimately connected 
with our arch-ajlogical discussions, and 
it may have some bearing as to Scan- 
dinavian or other European immigra- 
tion to this continent, previous to its 
discovery by Columbus. This fact 
will, at leajt, denote that a battle had 
here ensued, in which the participants 
belonged to the white, as well as the 
red race. The aged chiefs of the Se- 
necas were sure that no engagement 
had taken place upon this ground in 
modern times. 

Another feature connected with the 
ancient works in thi.s ecctioB, and 



wliicli, it is believed, has not been ob- 
Rcrvpd glsevvlicre upon the continent, is 
in the large size of the osteologiciil re- 
mains disclosed in a certain range of 
the monnd.s and other earthworks. I 
have lately given the most rigid scru- 
tiny to this subject, but it has oiily con- 
firmed prcvi(nis views, The skeleton 
taken from the Cassidaga mound, in 
1822, had been examined by the first 
professional surgeon and anatomist in 
{fiis section of the State. Upon my 
BUggeHting to him whether there might 
not be some mistake as to their extra- 
ordinary or gig'a,ntic fu'ze, he answered 
emphatically, that 'they ivere giants." 
This existence of these numerous and 
extraordinar}' osteological remains 
would certainly appear to confirm the 
ancient Iroquois tradition of a war 
with a race of giants, although it would 
Beem, fama est obscurior aries. Allu- 
sion is made to a land inhabited by a 
mighty race, in the beautiful lore of 
the Orient, as well as in the yet older 
Egyptian mythology. Another record, 
reacliing back to the first gray dawn 
of historic time, is contained in Gene- 
ris, referring to giants then upon the 
earth, and which has furnished a theme 
to England's uoble and immortal poet, 
as also to him who sang the lighter 
measures of Erine'slsle. The remains 
here, however, can hardly have any 
connection with these dim reminiscen- 
ces. 

The remains of the ancient work- 
manship possesses much interest, in 
showing the degree of art attained b}' 
the raound-builders. Tiie misty veil 
of centuries is removed, giving a par- 
tial glimpse again into tlie long-gone 
night of the past. I can only biieflj' 
refer to them. The image disclosed 
near the Alleghanj', upon whose waters 
the light bark of the Indian maiden 
yet glides, will compare favorably with 
the elaborate sculptures of the mound 
period of the Mississippi Valley. It 
has a close resemblance to the idols 
which were found in the ancient cities 
of Mexico, and Yucatan, and Peru; 



and cerlaiiily it will not bear closer 
comparison to the rude statute work 
of the Iroquois than can the classic 
and almost breathing marble of iho 
Hellenic artist with the more voluptu- 
ous forms of Venetian art. This stat* 
uette was perhaps one of the gods or 
goddesses in the old Indian mythology. 
Tlie expression of the face is that of 
stern repose; and we may imagine the 
worshipper to exclaim: 

"Chide me, dear stone ; that I ir.oy say, Indeed, 
Thou art Pleriiiioue; or rather thou art she 
In thy not chiding; for she was as tender 
As infancy and grace." 

The beautiful figure of the bird, 
wrought in marlde, and w-hich was 
found near the tumulus of Randolph, 
in the giaceful syrametrj' of contour 
and design cannot be surpassed. It 
is, perhaps, a representation of Spring. 
It shows a pure feeling for art in its 
expression. We gaze upon this simple 
figure with similar emotions as, when 
strolling in the Louvre, we turn from 
the gorgeous snnsets of Claude Lor- 
raine to the lovely figure of the Bella 
Jardiniere, by the master-hand of Ra- 
phael. And so this statuette has an at- 
mosphere of still life — a "midsummer 
dream" of the unnamed artist. Among 
the remains of art which have recent- 
ly come to my notice in Chautauqua 
county, occurs a mortar, having a 
width of some six inches, and a depth 
of five inches, chiselled from a large 
slab of stone. It was found within 
the circular enclosure at Sheridan. — 
Various interesting relics have been 
disclosed at "Forthill," near Fredonia; 
A pipe elaborately cut from stone, with 
a bust of the human figure gracefully 
traced upon the bowl; a stone tube, 
finely polished, and some nine inches 
of length; lance-heads, and varied or- 
naments, resembling in form those il- 
lustrated in figs. 114, 115, and 136, of 
the "Ancient Monuments of the Mis- 
sissippi Valley," by Messrs. Squier and 
Davis. The relics disclosed in connec- 
tion with the ancient earthworks of 
Western New York, in a marked de- 
gree will ideniify them with the vast 



nicuDci series of the Wes't; while Uicy 
liii^e some momiraental remains of ! 
Aztec and Toltec art, and, perluips, 
even to Celtic and Scandinavian anti- 
quities. 

I may mention thai an inscriptive 
relic whicli undoubtedly d(Miotes the 
former existence of an intrusive ele- 
ment upon this continent more decis- 
ively than has been afforded in any 
manner hitherto, has been excavated 
from a depth of some sis feet below 
the surface, in the State of Michigan. 
T have examined the plaster-cast of 
this medal. It is in circular form, 
nbout one inch across. Upon one side 
is most elaborately traced the figure of 
an urn or vase, bearing a flower shrub, 
and which is surrounded by several al- 
phabetical characters. The reverse 
has the device of a tree, which is also 
surrounded by an inscriptive legend. — 
These alphabetical characters, I am in- 
clined to think, are Hebraic. I know 
of nothing in the range of ancient or 
of modern art which exceeds in beauty 
of design this antique medal, 

Ths art-culture of any nation, or of 
any age, will at once indicate the po- 
sition it shall hold in human history. — 
It will be acknowledged that art is the 
divinest form by which beauty can be 
expressed — the highest development 
of sosthetical life. Long has the re- 
verent student made pilgrimage to 
the classic shrines of art, consecrated 
by the genius of the great masters, in 
the cities of the Old World and wan- 
dered with rapt awe amid the cloisters 
of San Marco, at the ancient Etrurian 
capitol — along the galleries of Venice, 
where still, on the immortal canvas, 
glow the passion, the beauty, and the 
gorgeous life which has its home there 
by the everpulsing sea — in the cathe- 
dral of Parma, whose vast dome is yet 
resplendent with the angelic creations 
of Correggio — and then in the Dres- 
den Gallery, where the gems of the 
jRrst masters of the fifteenth and six- 
teenth centuries attest the power and 
splendor which art had attained in its 



jtalinit'stdays -aiui, inthe imperial di?y, 
lingered in the B^rghese Palace, and, 
beneath the shade of the Vatican, by 
the immortal crearifins of Raphael, or; 
yet, by the sublime frescoes of Mich- 
ael Angelo, in the fc'istine chapel, whose 
grandeur and glory even the all effac- 
ing wave of Time is unable to destroy* 

Here in this New World, however, 
is disclosed a realm of art, vast and 
dim, and mysterious, as those bilried 
palaces, rich with the art-treasures of 
the Augustine age, which Raphael was 
commissioned to unveil, or of the blur- 
red ruins along the banks of the strange 
and affluent Nile. Here are the re- 
mains of art, dim in the diist and gloom 
of long-gone centuries, in which had 
been expressed the symbolical ideas 
of a ru le mytholog}', and in which the 
sensuous aspiration for the beautiful 
has also taken form. They afford, in- 
deed, but some faint approach to the 
divine purposes of art. The majestic 
forms wrought by the chisel of Phidi- 
as — the creations of art which sprang 
from the hand of Parrhasius — the 
dreams of beauty revealed in the Ve- 
nus of Apelles — shadow forth the grace 
with which Greek art had invested the 
fables of mythology. The sweet forms, 
yet brilliant witli the hues given in 
the early dawn of Christian art by 
Fra Angeiico, in the Medician city^ 
the Lad Suppe7\ and still beautiful in 
its crumbling wreck, by Leonardo de 
Vinci, at Milan — the Assumption of Ti- 
tian — the 31adonna del Siste and the 
Transfiguration, by Raphael, the purest 
creations of beauty which art ever 
a'ave — the II Penseroso, the Day and 
Night, and the Last Judgment, unrival- 
ed in its majestic- grandeur, yet over- 
hung with the awful shadows of 
Pate— 

^'Qiinntm tremor est futurus, 
Qiiaiido Judex est venturus 
Cuncta stricte discussurus" — 

of Michael Angelo, iu the beauty and 
power of execution, have shown the 
subliracst forms which the inspiration 



Fiom tlu' Art. Jouniul. 

ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCHES. 



BY T APOLEO-V CHENKY, IJ,. D. 



Tlie dftRcriplioii of the earthworks in 
Vv'esteru New York — the result of tlie 
survey prosecuted duriiig the j'ear 1859 
— has been given iu my report, wliicli 
is published by the Regents of the 
State CJuiversity.* I propose, howev- 
er, in this article, to refer to several 
matters which have more recentl} 
come to my notice, iu connection with 
those ancient works, as well as to tiie 
more intimate relation which they hold 
among remains of ancient art. 

The region where these memorials 
of the past are now disclosed, vvithiii 
the historic period had been occupied 
by the Five Nations, or Iroquois con- 
federac}-- — the most remarkable, the 
most powerful, known in history. — 
The name of Ayainoshioni was feared 
from the St. Lawrence to the Missis- 
sippi, and their conquering prowess 
the terror of surrounding nations. — 
This League has been compared to the 
Amphictyonic Council, and their achiev- 
ments may yet furnisli a theme of epic 
song — an Iliad or ^ueid. The Ves- 
peric tribes, indeed, had successfully 
maintained their sway throughout all 
the vast domain of unbroken forest 
and mountain ranges, whence the King 
of Floods marshals his multitudinous 
streams — from the desolate fields girt 
by the fn^zen zone to the sunny slopes 
of the Sierra Madre — from the shores 
of the Atlantic to the golden gateways 
of the Pacific. Around the council- 
fires their orators eloquently discussed 
questions of national policy, and in 
the shade of the wild woods the war- 
riors chanted their songs, and the dark- 
eyed and dark-haired maidens danced. 
This mighty realm, looming dimly 
away, if we may credit the Indian 
myths, becomes lost in an empire of 
yet older date, and around whose his- 
tory gathers the haze of a yet more 



impiincUable mystery. To this golden 
age may not the beautiful fables in 
the lore of the Orient refer — that far 
in the bosom of the sea, illumed by the 
rays of the setting Ilelius, slumbered 
a fair Atlantis — an Hesperian clime— 
the Ultima Thulc? These crumbling 
earthworks — without going beyond 
the I'ange of probable conjecture — at 
least may rival in antiquit}' the frown- 
ing castles which marked the conflicts 
of the old world — reaching back to the 
era when the Celts and the Belgaes 
were contending for the supremacy of 
the imperial isle — while the Gapceda, 
the Ostra-Goths and the Vis-Goths, and 
the Herulae, alternately were wandering 
over the plains of continental Europe 
— to that remote time when the achieve- 
ments of chivalric knights were cele- 
brated iu the dark myths of the old 
Nibilugen Lied. We only know that 
these nearly deca3'ed monuments of 
former empire were reared in some far 
century marked by the horologe of 
time. 

The idea has been advanced that the 
earthworks in this section were con- 
structed prior to the formation of the 
terrace which extends from the waters 
of the Lake Erie; but it will not, per- 
haps, be essential to examine this hy- 
pothesis. The rocks in this section, 
from their lithological and zoological 
characteristics, may be referred mainly 
to the Portage and Chemung groups. 
I have noticed a few fossils, as several 
species of Crinoidce and Crustacea, be- 
longing to other series, and specimens 
of Turritella classed in the tertiary 
system. The Chemung group has been 
considered as occupying the same geo- 
logical horizon with the Devonian sys- 
tem of Europe; the genus i?rac/»'opo^a, 
&c., ally it with the Carboniferious pe- 
riod; while species of other genera, as 
Lamellibranchiata, have their equiva- 
lent in the Ludlow rocks of Silurian 
age. The coarse drift of the quarti- 
nary epoch, throughout this section, 
has assumed elevations, resembling 
dunes or aesars, and which, also, have 



ft striking similarity to the mouuds of 
the west. 

Tlie place which these monuments of 
an unknown people will hold in the 
comprehensive history of art, must be 
determined, not less from the princi- 
ples which govern in the construction 
of the earthwork, than in artistic skill 
evinced, or beauty of design displaj'ed, 
in the minor relics. This entire series 
— tumuli, enclosures, &c., — with per- 
haps a single exception, present the 
same general characteristics, and are, 
undoubtedly, connected with the mound 
period of the Mississippi Valley. A 
few instances only— and which I had 
not particularly noticed in the report — 
can be given in illustration. The tu- 
mulus at Conewango in many respects 
lield a place among the most interest- 
ing of the ancient works in this sec- 
tion. It occupies the brow of a hill, 
overlooking the Conewango, whose 
■waters are dark, silent, and gloomy as 
the fabled Stys. Thiii moniid is com- 
posed of terraces, like the Teocallis of 
the x\ztec capital of the South, and 
contains eight sepulchral chambers, 
ranged in circular form. Since mak- 
ing the first examination, I have sunk 
a shaft directly in the centre of the 
mound. A layer of coarse earth first 
occurred, succeeded by a fine loam, and, 
upon reaching a depth of some five 
feet, the casts where framework had 
once existed were observed; also, a 
large quantity of ashes intermixed 
with fragments of calcined bones; and 
then, descending about three feet fur- 
ther, an altar, or platform, having an 
extent of several feet across, was dis- 
covered. It was constructed with pre- 
cise accuracy of outline, in the form of 
a parallelogram, with angles extended 
from either side toward the cardinal 
points. The upper surface of the altar 
was entirely level. It was formed in 
compact masonwork, of large, heavy 
stone, in successive layers, overlying 
a stratum of burned clay, which ex- 
tended to the soil of the original sur- 
face. Here, \ipon this ancient altar, 



had uiidciubU'Jly been pc-rfornied mys- 
terious rites — perhaps like the weird 
iacantaliona in the witches' cave — I'Ut 
the actors have long been swept away, 
aad their history perished in the silence 
of oblivion. Tliis ancient barrow, in 
the symmetry of design which it dis- 
plays in connectixm with the ceremo- 
nial, and perhaps sacrificial, purposes 
of its erection, certainly denotes much 
approach to the principles of art, al- 
though it cannot be compared to the 
Basilica of Milan, or the antique aisles 
and chapels, resplendent in their un- 
fading glories, beneath the majestic 
dome of St. Peter's. An ancient work, 
situated npo!i the summit of a pictur- 
esque and lofty hill in Ellington, in the 
principles applied in its construction, 
shows an advanced stage of military 
art — at least, such as prevailed among 
semi-civilized nations. This redoubt 
is in the form of a parallelogram. In 
the central portion of the parapet an 
entrance occurs, guarded upon either 
side by bastions. This gateway is 
constructed in accordance with the 
Tlascalan plan, as it also resembles 
the form which prevailed in the forti- 
fied camps, or castra stafiva, of the Ro- 
man legions. 

An enclosure is located near the vil- 
lage of Irving. Its walls assume an 
irregular deflection. The question pre- 
sented in the peciiliar relic found with- 
in this entrenchment — a bullet imbed- 
ded in the cervical vertebisee attached 
to a skeleton — is intimately connected 
with our arch-yelogical discussions, and 
it may have some bearing as to Scan- 
dinavian or other European immigra- 
tion to this continent, previous to its 
discovery by Columbus. This fact 
will, at least, denote that a battle had 
here ensued, in which the participants 
belonged to the white, as well as the 
red race. The aged chiefs of the Se- 
necas were sure that no engagement 
had taken place upon this ground in 
kioderu times. 

Another feature connected with the 
ancient works in this Bcctios, and 



wliicli, it \s believed, has not been ob- 
served elsewhere upon the continent, is 
in the large size of the osteological re- 
mains disclosed in a certain range of 
the mounds and other earthworks. I 
have lately given the most rigid scru- 
tiny to this subject, but it has only con- 
firmed previous views. The skeleton 
taken from the Cassidaga mound, in 
1822, had been examiued by the first 
professional surg'cou and anatomist in 
this section of the State. Upon my 
suggestinjj to him whether there might 
not be some mistake as to their extra- 
ordinary or gigantic tjize, he answered 
emphatically, that ''ihe.y icere gianta.'' 
This existence of these numerous and 
extraordinary osteological remains 
would certainly appear to confirm the 
ancient Iroquois tradition of a war 
with a race of giants, although it would 
seem, fama est obscurio)' aries. Allu- 
sion is made to a land inhabited b}' a 
mighty race, in the beautiful lore of 
the Orient, as well as in the yet older 
Egyptian mythology. Another record, 
reaching back to the first gray dawn 
of historic time, is contained in Gene- 
sis, referring to giants then upon the 
earth, and which has furnished a theme 
to England's noble and immortal poet, 
as also to him who sang the lighter 
measures of Erine's Isle. The remains 
here, however, can hardly have any 
connection with these dim reminiscen- 
ces. 

The remains of the ancient work- 
manship possesses much interest, in 
showing the degree of art attained by 
the mound-builders. The misty veil 
of Cxjnturies is removed, giving a par- 
tial glimpse again into the long-gone 
night of the past. I can only briefly 
refer to them. The image disclosed 
near the Alleghany, upon whose waters 
the light bark of the Indian maiden 
^et glides, will compare favorably with 
the elaborate sculptures of the mound 
period of the Mississippi Valh.'y. It 
has a close resemblance to the idols 
which were found in the ancient cities 
of Mexico, and Yucatan, and Peru; 



and certainly it will uot bear closer 
comparison to the rude statute work 
of tiie Iroquois than can the classic 
and almost breathing marble of the 
Hellenic artist with the more voluptu- 
ous forms of Venetian art. This stat- 
uette was perhaps one of the gods or 
goddesses in the old Indian mythoU)gy. 
The expression of the face is that of 
stern repose; and we may imagine the 
worshipper to exclaim: 

"Chide me, dear stone ; that I may say, Indeed, 
Thou art Ilerinioue; or rather thou art she 
In tliy not chiding; for she was as tender 
As infancy and grace," 

The beautiful figure of the bird, 
wrought in marble, and which was 
found near the tumulus of Riindolph, 
in the gi'aceful symmetry of contour 
and design cannot be surpassed. It 
is, perhaps, a representation of Spring, 
It shows a pure feeling for art in its 
expression. We gaze upon this simple 
figure with similar emotions as, when 
strolling in the Louvre, we turn from 
the gorgeous sunsets of Claude Lor- 
raine to the lovely figure of the Bella 
Jardiniere, by the master-hand of Ra- 
phael. And so this statuette has an at- 
mosphere of still life — a "midsummer 
dream" of the unnamed artist. Among 
the remains of art which have recent- 
ly come to my notice in Chautauqua 
county, ocfiurs a mortar, having a 
width of some six inches, and a depth 
of five inches, chiselled from a large 
slab of stone. It was found within 
the circular enclosure at Sheridan. — 
Various interesting relics have been 
disclosed at "Forthill," near Fredonia; 
A pipe elaborately cut from stone, with 
a bust of the human figure gracefully 
traced upon the bowl; a stone tube, 
finely polished, and some nine inches 
of length; lance-heads, and varied or- 
naments, resembling in fovm those il- 
lustrated in figs. 114, 115, and 136, of 
the "Ancient .Monuments of the Mis- 
sissippi Valley," by Messrs. Squier and 
Davis. The relics disclosed in connec- 
tion with the ancient earthworks of 
Western New York, in a marked de- 
gree will identify them with the vast 



moiind scries of tiic We?ti while ihcv 
have somo nionnmeiital remains of 
Aztec and Toltec art, and, perhaps, 
even to Celtic and Scandinavian anti- 
quities. 

T may mention that an inscriptive 
relic which undoubtedly denotes the 
former existence of an intrusive ele- 
ment upon this continent more decis- 
ively than has been niforded in any 
manner liitherto, has been excavated 
from a depth of some sis feet below 
the surface, in the State of Michigan. 
I have examined the plaster-cast of 
this medal. It is iu circular form, 
about one inch across. Upon one side 
is most elaborately traced the (igureof 
an urn or vase, bearing a flower shrub, 
and which is surrounded by several al- 
phabetical characters. The reverse 
has the device of a tree, which is also 
surrounded by an inscriptive legend. — 
I'hese alphabetical characters, I am in- 
clined to think, are Hebraic. I know 
of nothing in the range of ancient or 
of modern art which exceeds iu beauty 
of desigu this antique medal. 

The art-culture of any nation, or of 
any age, will at once indicate the po- 
isitiou it shall hold in human history. — 
It will be acknowledged that art is the 
divinest form by which beauty can be 
expressed — the highest development 
of a3sthetical life. Long has the re- 
verent student made pilgrimage to 
the classic shrines of art, consecrated 
by the genius of the great masters, in 
the cities of the Old World and wan- 
dered with rapt awe amid the cloisters 
of San Marco, at the ancient Etrurian 
capitol — along the galleries of Venice, 
vphere still, on the immortal canvas, 
glow the passion, the beauty, and the 
gorgeous life which has its home there 
by the everpulsing sea — in the cathe- 
dral of Parma, whose vast dome is yet 
resplendent with the angelic creations 
of Correggio — and then in the Dres- 
den Gallery, where the gems of the 
first masters of the fifteenth and six- 
teenth centuries attest the power and 
&plei;dor which art bad aKained in its 



palmiest days --and, in the Imperial City, 
lingered in the Btugheise Palace, and, 
beneath the shade of the Vatican, by 
the immortal crearions of Raphael, or, 
yet, by the sublime frescoes of Mich- 
ael Angelo, in the Sistine chapel, whose 
grandeur and glory even the all effac- 
ing wave of Time is unable to destroy. 

Here in this Now World, however, 
is disclosed a realm of art, vast and 
dim, and mysterious, as those buried 
palaces, rich with the art-treasures of 
the Augustine age, wliich Raphael was 
commissioned to unveil, or of the blur- 
red ruins along the banks of'the strange 
and affluent Nile. Here are the re- 
mains of art, dim in the dust and gloom 
of long-gone centuries, in which had 
been expressed the symbolical ideas 
of a ru'ie mythology, and in which the 
sensuous aspiration for the beautiful 
has also taken form. They afford, in- 
deed, but some faint approach to the 
divine purposes of art. The majestic 
forms wrought by the chisel of Phidi- 
as — the creations of art which sprang 
from the hand of Parrhasius — the 
dreams of beauty revealed in the Ve- 
nus of Apelles — shadow forth the grace 
with which Greek art had invested the 
fables of mythology. The sweet forms, 
yet brilliant with the hues given iti 
the early dawn of Christian art by 
Fra Angelico, in the Mediciau city — 
the Last Supper, and still beautiful iu 
its crumbling wreck, by Leonardo de 
Vinci, at Milan — the Assumption of Ti' 
tian — the 31adonna del Sisle and the 
Transfiguration, by Raphael, the purest 
creations of beauty which art ever 
a:ave — the II Penseroso, the Day and 
Night, and the Last Judgment, unrival- 
ed iu its majestic grandeur, yet over- 
hung with the awful shadows of 
Fate— 

"Quonius tremor estfuturus, 
Quundo Judex est venturiis 
Cuncta stride discus&urus" — 

of Michael Angelo, in the beauty and 
power of execution, have shown the 
sublimest forms which the inspiration 



of art can create, the loftiest triumphs 
of human ffcnius. 



"This -work is thus referred to in several 
serial publications, by gentlemen wha^^have 
respectively in the domain of Literature and 
Science long occupied the first position among 
the distinguished authors of America: 

"The field of Mr. Cheney's explorations is 
the district bordering upon Lake Eric. His 
discoveries embrace tumnli of stone and earth, 
sacred enclosures, fortifications, ancient roads, 
cemeteries, wells, hearths, and numerous ob- 
jects of artoruamental and useful" The earth- 
•ifrorks are, in general, more regular in their 
Btructnre than those in other parts of New 
York and Northern Ohio, and bear a close re- 
semblance to many that have been found in 
the Valley of the Mississippi. They give evi- 
dence that the region was once the seat of 
dense, warlike, and by no means wholly rude 
br unskilled aboriginal population. Among 
the works of art are a statuette cut in relief 
from a block of granite, with well-defined fea- 
tures, an image of life-size in gray sandstone, 
and a pipe carved from steatite, bearing on the 
bowl a singularly graceful figure of an Indian, 
surmounted by what appears to be a wreath of 
flowers. There are also various other speci- 
mens of carved work, with several weapons 
which indicate a somewhat advanced state of 
mechanical industry. The illustrations, draM'n 
by Mr. Cheney, have a very highorder of mer- 
it, and with his singularly lucid text, they 
put us into an unusually complete possession 
of the entire results of his researches. He has 
all the chacteristics of a faithful and successful 
explorer, uniting with genuine antiquarian 
iReal the science and skill of an accomplished 
engineet and draughtsman. We tiust that wa 
shall meet him again on some more extended 
and equally fruitful field of the yet undescribed 
antiquities of our continent-" — North American 
Review. 

"In a cursory perusal of this report and af- 
ter an inspection of its illustrations, we are 
convinced that the dominion of that very an^ 
tient and unknown people, by whom the earth- 
works of North America were raised, extended 
to Lake Erie and was a part of the great sys- 
tem of similar works which occupied the terri- 
tory of several of the- Western and South-west- 
ern States, to a great extent, also, the Valleys 
of the Ohio and Mississippi and their conflu- 
ents extending quite to Mexico. There is so 
great a similarity, not to say identity, of struc- 
ture, position, arrangement and contents, 
whether of remains or of artistic works, when 
art was young, or of collections of minerals 
and other objects of nature and art that our 
curiosity is excited still more to obtain a solu- 
tion of the question, 'who were the people -who 



erected these remarkable works, fortis, lines of 
defense, mounds of observation, or barrows of 
supulture?' Our modern Indians have no such 
skill — nor have we reason to believe that any- 
such structures as are named above were ever 
erected by them or their ancestors, and this 
appears to be the opinion of Mr. Cheney. 

"We sincerely wish him every aid to which 
he is so well entitled— especially to enable him 
to bring to a successful result extensive inves- 
tigations in which he is now engaged as to the 
origin and history of the builders of the mounds 
and fortresses which are the only recorded of 
that wonderful extinct people. -^(B. Silliman, 
L. L. T).) Journal of Science and Arts. 

"The greater part of this document is a ra- 
port on ancient monunments in Western New 
York, by T. Apoleon Cheney, M. A., with a 
map and 14 plates. This is a valuable Supi 
plement to the work of Mr. Squier; and Mr. 
Cheney deserves credit for carrying out his 
exploratidns under very disheartening circum- 
stances. We trust that he will be encouraged 
to proceed, and that before the levelling hand 
of progress comes upon them, the various 
mounds in the State may be examined and 
properly described. — Brographical Dictionary 
of Distinguished Authors. 

We have received from the author, T. Apol^ 
EON Cheney, Esq., a copy of an interesting 
and valuable publication, entitled "Contribu- 
tions to the Thirteenth Annual Report of the 
Regents of the University of the State Cabinet 
of Natural History of the State of New York." 
The subject of this publication is the ancient 
monuments in western New York, and it com- 
prises the results of explorations made by the au- 
thor in the year 1859. It contains much inter- 
esting information with regard to the remains 
still existing of the earth works, mounds, 
tdmuli, and other works, evidently of a mili- 
tary character erected, probably ages ago, by 
the aboriginal inhabitants of the New World. 
Mr. Cheney deserves the thanks of our antiqua- 
rians for tiie investigations he has made, and 
for the light he has thrown upon a subject 
which is certainly one that cannot be other- 
wise than attractive to the greater portion of' 
the American public. The volume, which, 
we learn, has been embodied in the thirteenth 
annual report of the Regents of the University 
of New York, is copiously illustrated by en- 
gravings, and by a map of the district explor- 
ed. — Oodey's Lady's Book. 



The Early History of the Eegiou of the Se- 
neca Lake, etc. 

We have previously made some al- 
lusion in the Journal to the very ex- 
tensive historical investigations which 
had been pursued throughout this sec- 
tion of tlie State by T. Apoleon Che- 
ney, LL. D. We learn tliat the work 
embracing the results of these inves- 
tigations has within the past few weeks 
been written by Dr. Cueney; and that 
it will, in a short time, be published in 
a volume, principally for object of ex- 
change with learned Societies, &c. — 
As this History cannot fail to possess 
the greatest degree of interest, partic- 
ularly within this region of the State 
to which it directly rehxtes, we accord- 
ingly solicited permission of its au- 
thor to give a preliminary publication 
of this sketch in the Journal; and we 
shall probably commence to publish it 
in our columns within the course of 
one or two weeks, and continue its in- 
sertion in a series of numbers of our 
paper until the publication of the en- 
tire sketch is completed, which will re- 
quire a number of weeks. 

It is scarcely necessary to add in 
this place, that Dr. Cjieney in former 
years has acquired by his learned lit^ 
erary and scholastic labors, and espe- 
cially by his very accurate aqd valua- 
ble researches in the departnjent of 
Historical Science, a wide and distiui- 
guished reputation, and which rests 
upon a solid and enduring foundation. 
The investigations of historical nature 
which he has previously pursued, we 
believe, were principally embodied in 
the brief work entitled, — " Ancient 
Monuments of We.stern N. Y.," which 
was issued in 1861. Within a short 
time after completion of the first sur- 
vey, Dr. Cheney made resume of the 
subject, and prepared an article, ''An- 
tiquarian Researches,''^ which was pub- 
lished in the Art Journal, a Magazine 
which held the first or foremost rank 
in American literature. As this arti- 
cle relates to the g-eneral history and 



characteristics of tliQ Iroquois, and 
which will also require such large por^ 
tion of space in a sketch of the early 
History of this region, which we de- 
sign soon to commence publishing in 
tlie Journal; we have thought advis'a^ 
ble to re-publish this article, which 
will be found on the first page of our 
paper this week, believing that our 
readers will find it to be of much in- 
terest. 

-The early historical work prepared 
by Dr. Cheney, "Ancient Monuments of 
VVestern N. Y," though containing but 
few pages, aside from the illustrations, 
it is well known, had met with a most 
favorable and flattering reception by 
learned men, Scientific Societies, etc., 
both in America and Europe — and won 
by its eminent raeiit a literary success 
which had been seldom if ever equaled. 
This briet work was noticed in a nurn? 
ber of our leading Magazines and Sci- 
entific Journals, and also very fully 
and favorably reviewed in several for- 
eign languages. 

With this view of gathering the ful- 
lest and most authentic material for a 
reli'able and impartial History of this 
region of the State, Dr. T. A. Cheney 
had formed the design of making a 
complete and rigid investigation of the 
subject, ascertaining from closest re- 
search all the facts connected with the 
actual history of the section of counr 
try embraced in these enquiries, as 
they might still be retained in the pos- 
itive knowledge and recollection of 
those who yet survived among the ear- 
lier settlers; and for this purpose, durr 
ing the spring of 1865, he had made 
several journeys throughout the entire 
region of the Canisteo and Conhoctou 
Valleys, also through the extensive 
valley's of the Chemung and Susque- 
hanna, and through the valley ex- 
tending from Chemung river to Seneca 
Lake, and thence along either side of 
the lake to Geneva; and, in these va^ 
rious tours, he was enabled to visit all 
of the earlier residents in this exten- 
sive region who were yet living, and 



in these fulerviews iie prosecuted the 
fullest enquiries upon every point re- 
luting' to our early iiistory in regard to 
which these respective individuals 
could afi'ord any positive and reliable 
information, and in every instance re- 
cording- at the time the evidence thus 
obtained in the form of ample notes, in 
this manner avoiding any dependence 
upon recollection of conversation with 
60 many persons, (about 590 in num- 
ber); these laborious, critical investi- 
gations and enquiries were prosecuted 
during several months in the year 1865, 
while since that time cyery opportuni- 
ty has been embraced to gather any 
additional information from reliable 
sources, but it is believed that all the 
more recent statements given in regard 
to our earlj' annals only go to confirm 
the extensive information previously 
obtained from so many of the aged 
residents throughout this section of the 
State; in making such full and com- 
plete research toward gathering all 
the facts of interest connected with 
onr early history, it was quite often 
the case that the statements of fifteen 
or twenty persons related to the same 
matter, and quite frequently, when 
there seemed to be the least doubt ex- 
isting upon a subject, Dr. Cue.vey had 
made excursions of twelve or fifteen 
miles in order to obtain reliable and 
conclusive evidence upon a ainglG point 
from individuals who had positive 
knowledge, and were themselves fully' 
acquainted with the matter which had 
been in question. Beside the thorough 
and full researches that Dr. Citexey had 
made in gathering information from 
the early residents of this region, he 
also had access t,o the H. S. S., histori- 
cal papers, books, &c, of the late Hon. 
Tuos. Maxwell, which alone would fur- 
nish more reliable information as to the 
liistory of the Chemung Valley than is 
contained in all books which have hith- 
erto been issued ; important informa- 
tion had also been furnished by Judge 
McMaster of Stuben Co. In addition 
to this evidence of positive character 



relative to onr early history afforded by 
the practical investigation, the rigid 
nature of the enquiries which Dr. Che- 
ney had iustituted in the researches 
made among the early sellers, he had 
also the means of deriving important 
aid from reference that he could at any 
ti(ne make to books contained in Georr 
gic Library, (which had been estab- 
lished and sustained through his euterr 
prise,) and which, without doubt, inclu? 
des the most extensive and valuable 
collection of historical and scientifia 
works to be found in any Library with- 
in this section of the State — embracing' 
in the number many old, and scarce 
historical books, antique and rare vol- 
umes, of which copies are contained in 
very few Libraries in our country; 
probably, so far as consultation of his- 
torical books, and aid derived therer 
from, is concerned, he has thus had 
more ample facilities than could else^ 
where have been found in western N. Y. 
As the material for the history of 
this region had been gathered with 
greater care and accuracy, more rigid 
exactness than is usually, or perhaps 
had ever before been given in collecting 
statistics, this large amount of origi- 
nal material has been condensed and 
arranged, and been written out under 
more discouraging circumstances, un? 
der a state of more extreme ill-health, 
than perhaps had ever before attended 
the preparation of any work. We be- 
lieve that Dr. Cheney had recovered 
sufScieutly from the attack of illness 
suffered in Dec, so that he commencec} 
preparation of the History about the 
first days of February, and was able 
to be engaged in writing for a few- 
minutes, sometimes several hours in 
course of the day, and in this manner 
had nearly completed the entire sketch, 
when he was again prostrated several 
weeks ago by another attack of illness 
— and since this last attack, he has not 
sufficiently recovered to be able to re- 
sume, or finish th^ Sketch. This poor 
state of health, of course, has prevented 
Dr. Cheney from giving revision, or ;-er 



writing: any portion of tlic sketch; but 
this will make less difference as he 
does not usually re-write or copy bis 
articles, published in Magazines, &c. 

Beyond any question Dr. Cheney pos- 
sesses greater and more eminent abili- 
ty, more ample qualiScations to pre- 
pare a work that will form an authen- 
tic, valuable contribution to the His- 
tory of our State, than an}' other liter- 
ary or scientific writer in Central or 
Western New York. The most promi- 
hent characteristic, the principal mer- 
it which distinguishes all of Dr. Che- 
ney's researches and writings is the 
strict and remarkable accuracy which 
everywhere marks them; his investi- 
gations are always prosecuted with 
fexact precision of a demonstration in 
mathematics — and his writings are in- 
variably marked by a simple, rigid 
trutlifulness which places the accura- 
cy of his statements beyond all ques- 
tion. 

Dr. Chexey is well known, personally, 
as a man of sterling integrity and up- 
rightness,with character marked by uni- 



form and inflexible adhcM*enfce lo moral 
principle; while he'possesses aclear, crit- 
cal intellect, and a sound, practical 
judgment; he is not a man that will 
take any fact for granted, and our rea- 
ders may rest assured that before any 
statement is adniitted into his history 
its truth and correctness will have to 
be fully and clearly established — ivken 
he sJidll record any statement, those who 
are acquainted with him, will need no 
other proof of its unquestionable truth 
and absolute authenticity. Dr. Che- 
net has given most faithful, close, and 
thorough research in gathering neces- 
sary material for an accurate History 
of this region of the State; and we 
know that he will prepare an independ- 
ent, fearless, and truthful History — a 
work pervaded by a high moral tonej 
while its reflections will be made only 
in accordance with stern moral princi- 
ples; and the dictates of truth and 
right; and its strict impartiality and 
accuracy will rest upon an iramovabld 
foundation. — Havana Journal. 



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